Repossession
by demonicnargles
Summary: The sequel to Possession. Naruto doesn't stay dead, if he died at all. Confused about morality and his own feelings, he tries to find his place in the world. What is he willing to give to get the peace he wants?
1. Back to before

AN: I hope I remember correctly what happened in Possession. Um... Sasuke died, Gaara is still around, Itachi and Kisame died, Orochimaru died, Inoichi is/was freakin' out, Ino is weird now, um, ok? And without further ado, here is Repossession.

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...But at the last moment, the being found a way. With a tremendous amount of energy, he held the pieces in stasis, somehow holding off the seemingly inevitable. Out of the darkness, energy swirled, slowly gathering the tiny pieces together. The being began to use whatever little energy it was not sparing to keep the whole in stasis, to begin to rebuild and repair the whole. It was a slow and difficult process, and even the being, who had existed for generations, found it slow work. The being who sat in darkness, the darkness that preceded annihilation, began its work.

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Jiraiya, of course, attended the funeral of the Third, as did most of the surviving ninja. Although Konoha had been nearly destroyed, between the Sound invasion and the brief reappearance of Kyuubi, things were rapidly returning to normal. Ninjas were fast builders. Jiraiya had high hopes that the next Hokage would be installed in a village that was nearly back to before.

As he watched the recovery efforts, Jiraiya grieved inside for all the ninja that had been lost. Although he was aware that every ninja faces death, destruction in such proportions should not have been possible. And so Jiraiya grieved, even for the one whose death had been celebrated throughout much of the village. Jiraiya

And speaking of the next Hokage, as soon as the funeral was over, Jiraiya left town to look for the one person who he knew would be willing and able to lead the Hidden Leaf.

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"No way. Never. Only fools would want to become Hokage."

Jiraiya sighed. It had taken weeks to find Tsunade, and now he had spent DAYS trying to convince here to return. Unsuccessfully, he might add.

"Tsunade, if you don't come back, they'll make ME be the Hokage. Surely you don't want that!"

"It's not my village, I don't care."

"But we need someone-"

"NO!!! I won't do it!"

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"I will do it."

"Then, I present to the village of Konoha, the Fifth Hokage!" The assembled crowd burst into applause, cheering for the new sannin-turned-Hokage.

Tsunade whispered under her breath, "You owe me, Jiraiya."

Jiraiya smiled and whispered back. "Don't worry, I'll find some way to smuggle you sake in the office."

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The being slowly reformed the working parts of the whole, taking great care that each part was in perfect condition. Although the being's power was vast, the majority of its energy was tied up in keeping the whole from the hands of another, even more powerful being, a being who never gave things back.

Slowly, the whole began to resemble the appearance it had worn before its unfortunate disassembly. But there was still much work to be done, lest the greater being claim the whole, and the lesser being, as his own.

The lesser being also took care that he did not lose the third being, smaller yet, a being which clung to the lesser as its lifeline. For the third being knew how to operate the whole, though only the second could recreate it.

Unknown to the two lesser beings, the first, and stronger being, saw them, and laughed.

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Tsunade watched over the reconstruction of many houses and buildings. Her presence gave her a good image with the people, and Shizune was taking care fo the paperwork. After a while, she noticed that there was a long strip where there was no construction. When she asked about it, she was told that the area was tainted.

Curious, Tsunade went to investigate, but as she reached the area, she realized what they were talking about. Even after months, she could detect the faint trace of demon chakra permeating the area, seemingly concentrated in the area where, she was told, the container had perished. Not even the bodies of leaf ninja had been removed from the area, for fear of the lingering presence of corruption.

Her curiosity sated, Tsunade jogged back to where the new construction was taking place. They would take care of that area last.

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Tsunade looked over the latest report. According to what she was reading, the group of renegade ninja, Akatsuki, had disbanded. The report did not know why, and Jiraiya's excellent spy network could only say that something had happened to prevent them from doing whatever they had formed to do.

Tsunade was sure that whatever the group's goals had been, they had been somehow related to the appearance of Itachi and Kisame at the invasion. From what she had heard by ninja who had happened to be near the area, the two had confronted the demon container, talked for a while, and then fought.

Based of the fact that she had herself seen the two Akatsuki cloaks, apparently indestructible, laying in the 'tainted' area, Tsunade guessed that they had underestimated the demon.

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The second being was pleased. After such a long time, his work was finished. He placed the third being within the whole, and then took its place alongside it. After checking its work one last time, the second being activated the whole, which immediately resumed where it had left off.

Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump.

_**Finally...**_

The third being saw this, and laughed. It could have easily taken the demon and brat, but then again, it was more beneficial to let them go. Shinigami wanted as many souls as he could get, and why take these two when they would undoubtedly bring him so many more...

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Naruto slowly opened his bright red eyes. The bright light from the sun caused his irises to contract, a natural reaction to too much light, and so his pupils narrowed into slits.

After a moment or two, the boy say up and took in his surroundings, and found that he was lying naked in a huge pile of rubble. Feeling slightly awkward, Naruto picked up the smaller cloak the was nearby, and wrapped it around himself. He had no shoes, but at least he was covered now. He pulled up the collars to keep the cool morning air at bay, and began to walk in a random direction.

Naruto walked past the broken piles of scorched rock, piles that at one time had been buildings. He felt oddly unconcerned about this strange area, even though he could see bleached bones strewn randomly throughout the debris.

Slowly, Naruto remembered what had happened. He was a genin. Of the leaf. Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke. Chuunin exams, attack...

_**Don't forget me. I was there the whole time.**_

Naruto flinched at the sudden voice in his head, before he recalled the moments of his... death?

_**We didn't die, quite. It was a very close thing, though. I managed to rebuild our body. This is where we fought the leaf nin that blonde ninja brought, and so this is where most of our ashes were, and thus, the easiest place to return to.**_

Naruto felt himself returning to normal. At least, what passed for normal as him.

_Hmm, since we're alive, we should get some food._

_**...Is food all you think about? We can catch some deer or something in the woods. I don't think we'll be welcome in the village.**_

_Oh, well. It's not like we were ever really welcome there, anyway._

The cloaked boy ran to the edge of the village and leapt over the wall, paying no attention, or perhaps not noticing, the people who stood on the wall.

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"Hokage-sama!"

Tsunade jerked herself upright. No need to be caught sleeping on the job. "Come in."

A nervous chuunin walked into the office. "Hokage-sama, you said to notify you if we saw anyone in a black cloak with red clouds on it, right?"

Tsunade was wide awake. "Yes, so what did you see?"

"I just saw one of them jump over the wall and out of the village."

"What did he look like, where was he headed, did you see anything else unusual?"

"He was barefooted, and had whitish hair. Maybe it used to be blonde, but it looked like his hair had turned white. I couldn't see his face, because his collar was turned up. And he was running towards Sand. The only unusual thing was that he came out of the tainted sector."

Tsunade thought for a moment, before sending a team of ANBU to investigate the tainted area for any signs of what the Akatsuki could have wanted there.

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Naruto finished eating, and went to find water to wash off the blood. Hearing some moving water, he ran toward the sound, to find a small, slow stream with clear water. Naruto leaned over the water, but stopped in surprise.

His hair was almost all white. It had a barely visible yellow tint, but it was mostly white. And his eyes were a violent red, with fox-like slitted pupils. His cheeks were, as normal, adorned with whisker-marks.

_**One of the effects of being revived by my chakra. I couldn't do anything about the hair, and the eyes are red because I made them.**_

_It's fine. I don't think we have much of a chance of hiding you anymore, especially after what we did at the end of the fight._

Naruto washed up and continued wandering toward the desert.

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Tsunade was supervising the final bit of construction, the buildings in the tainted section. It was a good thing the demon chakra had left when it did, or else the people would never have moved back in.

Tsunade was a bit worried that the taint had left right after the Akatsuki had visited, but there was nothing she could do about it now. Every tracking dog whimpered when it was asked to follow the scent, and only Kakashi, who was on a mission, had the summon for talking nin-dogs.

So until he returned, Tsunade decided that she wouldn't worry about it.

"Hokage-sama."

Tsunade turned to the speaker. "Yes... Kakashi? Oh, good, you're here."

"I just got back from the mission, and I heard you were looking for me."

"Yes, did you find out anything?"

"After a lot of searching, I found the corpses all buried in a training field. They looked like they had been attacked by some sort of animal. They had long gashes everywhere. But, I don't think that any... normal... animal could burn them like they had been burned. And Pakkun said her could smell the stench of a demon."

"The more we find out, the longer he seems to have been influenced by the demon. But anyway, I wanted you here because we have a trail of an Akatsuki member that needs to be followed, and you have the summons for talking dogs. The trail starts right over there," Tsunade gestured over to the base of a tree just outside the walls. "The other dogs refused to follow it, so I was hoping that you would have better luck, or that we can at least find out why no one will follow it."

Kakashi nodded and summoned Pakkun. "Pakkun, a trail starts here. We need you to take us to the Akatsuki member who went this way."

Pakkun walked over to the tree and sniffed, before barking loudly and jumping back. "I'd follow an Akatsuki member for you, but a demon is more than I really care to get involved with."

Tsunade's eyes widened in understanding. "A demon? So there was a demon container here? Can you tell which it was, Pakkun?"

"I don't know the different smells, but this is exactly the same as the scent we found back with those dead villagers."

Tsunade looked confused. "But several people saw him die. They said he scattered into ashes. Besides, that was months ago. There's no way he could have-"

"I didn't saw it was him, but it smells exactly the same. That's all I'm saying." With that, Pakkun poofed into smoke.

Kakashi watched as the Hokage's face contorted into a frown. "Kakashi, I want you to assemble a team and follow this... thing as far as you can with your own tracking skills. Take whomever you would like. I'll take care of the paperwork."

Kakashi nodded, and leapt away.

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Naruto reached the edge of the forest and walked into the desert, not really sure why he was going this way.

_**Hey, we never finished with that other demon, Shukaku. We could... pay him a visit?**_

Naruto thought for a moment, trying to come up with a good reason not to. He failed.

_Sure, why not, I guess..._

_**That's the spirit.**_

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Kakashi hurried along the trail. Whoever or whatever was making it was not at all concerned about stealth. Bent branches, footprints, and other easy clues littered the trail. Right behind him, Shikamaru, now a chuunin, kept pace, his hands in his pockets. And behind Shikamaru came Ino. Kakashi wasn't sure about her, but Shikamaru seemed confident that her Mind-Body Switch could make for an easy capture, if they could get her a clear shot.

As they followed the path into the desert, Kakashi began to feel uneasy. They were a long way from help.

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Naruto was walking toward Suna.

_**Hey, while we're out in the middle of nowhere, we can test out this body. It's supposed to be the same, but I'm not, after all, Kami, so we should probably make sure I got it right.**_

_...I feel so confident in your abilities now..._

_**Shut up, kit.**_

Naruto went through some basic taijutsu, while he kept moving in the general direction of Suna. He followed up with clones and ninjutsu. This, in turn, would have been followed by genjutsu, but Naruto didn't know any, so he decided to quit.

_**Make sure we test the body with my chakra.**_

_...fine..._

Naruto drew chakra from the Kyuubi, and more, and more. The air shimmered around him and the sand at his feet turned to glass, but the chakra was not yet hurting his body. Kyuubi reached out with a hand of chakra and slashed the sand, then shot spheres of demonic energy from the hand into nearby sand dunes.

They used more and more chakra, but still they didn't feel the pain that usually accompanied so much demon chakra. _**Maybe we can take more now since the body was made by me?**_

They drew the chakra into the nearly-impenetrable armor they had used before, and then they felt it. That internal tearing and strain, though less than ever before, was still more than enough to eventually kill them if they kept it up for too long.

_It looks like we are just a bit more resistant to using it, and not so much to staying in contact with it._

_**You sound way too smart. There's no way you're Naruto.**_

_Kami, just because I acted stupid a long time ago everyone thinks I'm dumber than dirt._

_**But you used the word contact.**_

_...Your point?_

_**Never mind. Let's go, I wanna kill Shukaku. And some sand ninja. And maybe some villagers. And...**_

Naruto tuned him out and started walking again.

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Kakashi looked at the dunes around him. Or, to be more accurate, to the large glass hills around him.

Shikamaru droned, "Looks like they were playing with fire. Or if it really is a demon, maybe they were playing with that evil chakra."

Kakashi grimaced underneath his mask. It didn't look like there had been a fight here, since there was no blood or bodies. But if there had been this much heat...

"We need to keep moving if we're gonna catch up to it anytime soon," Shikamaru droned.

Kakashi nodded, and resumed tracking the blundering path left by whatever they were following. Shikamaru and Ino followed close behind.

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Naruto and Kyuubi arrived at the gates of Suna. A chuunin guard got up and walked over from where he had been seated. "Hey, normal stuff. Who are you, what's yer business, and all that."

_Is it really so important to kill these people?_

_**I want to, and besides, if we want to eventually live normally, we need to get rid of the people who know about me. That means Gaara.**_

_So are we just gonna kill him?_

_**Well, since we're here... and besides, Suna ninja were at the chuunin exams too, remember?**_

_Well..._

_**If you want to sit it out, I can take care of it.**_

_I'll never get better if I let you do all the work. If this really needs to be done, then we might as well get started._

The chuuunin stared at the barefoot guy in the weird cloak. And the weird eyes. He cleared his throat to get the guy's attention.

Suddenly Naruto ripped out the chuunin's throat with the claws that had formed on his hands, and then rushed into the village.

The chuunin fell over, blood gushing out onto the sand from the hideous hole in his throat.

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Kakashi stopped when he saw the village of Suna in the distance. Something was... off.

Shikamaru and Ino walked up beside him. "What's going on, Kakashi-san?" Ino asked.

"Something isn't right, but... we need to keep going."

The jogged toward the village, and as they approached, Kakashi realized what was wrong. Barely reaching them on the wings of the wind, were screams of agony and death. Kakashi saw a tall red flame leap into the air from somewhere in the village.

And then he felt it. The unmistakable presence of the kyuubi.

"Shikamaru, Ino. This mission just got a lot harder."

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AN: I was gonna write more for the first chapter, but then I knew you guys were waiting for this, soooo... yeah. I hope you like it.

Just so everyone knows, I will not be updating this weekly like I did with Possession. That is really hard and leads to the sort of stuff I was not quite as proud of, especially in the last chapter. It got kinda... rushed. So I plan to update this maybe every month or something. Or maybe more often, but don't hold your breath.

If you liked it, disliked it, have a comment or suggestion, or just want to let me know you read it, that's what the review button is for. See you guys next time!

-demonicnargles


	2. Less is more

AN: Well, here's another chapter for you guys. I've found that I can write a little bit every day and not get tired of it, like I did writing Possession, where spent like an hour or two everyday writing it. Of course, that means updates come more slowly...

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy chapter two of Repossession. (Anyone notice the distinct lack of creativity in the title? I mean, yeah it's cool and all, but...)

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Naruto threw another gob of demonic chakra at the sand chuunin on the rooftop. The chuunin dodged, but the energy struck the roof and exploded , sending the unfortunate ninja flying anyway.

As more and more ninja appeared to combat the growing menace of Naruto, the demon and host found themselves with more and more demonic energy swirling around them, far enough away that it didn't hurt their new body.

_**An unexpected benefit, but all's well that ends well.**_

_Since when do you use human sayings?_

_**...I do see and hear everything you see and hear, you know that, right? I've practically been human for years now. All I'm saying is that using my chakra doesn't hurt now, as long as we don't keep it close to our body.**_

_Are all demons like this?_

_**I certainly should think not. Look at Gaara. Oh, Gaara. Crap.**_

For Gaara had just appeared, looking rather pleased, and muttering to himself through the manic grin that stretched his lips wide.

Naruto dodged a gritty hand that formed from the sand beneath him, while Kyuubi released even more of his caustic chakra into the air around them. A whirlwind of fiery red chakra surrounded them now, contrasting sharply with the absolutely still armor of sand that constantly protected Gaara.

The sand warrior tried to reach out to Naruto with another arm of sand, but it was melted and destroyed in the inferno that was Kyuubi. And another arm, and a few sand missiles.

The sand ninja in the area stood back, hoping against all hope that the two would kill each other and leave them in peace.

Naruto suddenly lunged at Gaara, claws at the ready. Similar claws, though much larger, reached out from the swirling mass of Kyuubi's chakra.

Gaara deftly reached an arm of sand through a momentary gap in Naruto's defense, reaching for the soft flesh within. Kyuubi immediately dropped his arms to blast chakra from Naruto's body, destroying the attack.

Naruto, who had complete confidence in Kyuubi to defend, did not allow himself to be distracted, and kept going, slashing out at Gaara, who was already being hurt by the whirlwind of demon chakra.

A wall of sand instantly shot up to intercept, and though it was annihilated by Kyuubi's chakra, it kept the attack at bay. Gaara jumped back quickly, and Naruto leapt after him, another hand pulled back for attack.

Gaara kept evading the attacks, but every time Naruto got near him, the swirl of evil chakra battered him with its destructive power. The armor of sand took care of most of that, and it was not as if there was not enough sand, but eventually, the small amounts of damage started adding up.

Naruto got more and more into the fight, losing the apathy with which he had entered the village. This was annoying. He was barely hurting this guy. There was just too much sand around here. Even though the are was littered with oddly-shaped pieces of glass, there was still so much sand...

Then, as Gaara jumped back to dodge yet another attack, Kyuubi surprised the sand-nin with a blast of chakra, sending the victim, already in mid-air from the jump, flying. Then Kyuubi reached with a long arm of chakra, grabbed the boy, and pulled him in.

Naruto slashed Gaara across the face, across the chest, leaving long lines of melted glass on the boy's skin. Gaara howled in agony, and pushed away, stumbling a few yards before collapsing into unconsciousness.

Naruto was about to turn to the other sand ninja in the area when he heard Gaara laugh. Or rather, since Gaara was unconscious...

Shukaku reared up to his full height, laughing in a shrill, high voice. "I'M FREE!!!"

Sand rushed toward Naruto, who leapt away. Kyuubi pulled in his chakra, forming a thin layer of his evil chakra to protect Naruto from the other demon. Naruto could feel the slight pain that accompanied the prolonged contact of the demon chakra.

Shukaku reached out to grab Naruto, but his hand melted into glass when it touched the demonic armor.

Naruto/Kyuubi smirked. **"We won't just melt your legs like we did last time, Shukaku. Hehehe..."**

Shukaku paused. "You can't beat me in the desert, fool! No matter how much sand you melt, there's always more!"

Naruto/Kyuubi grinned savagely. **"But there's only one Gaara. How will you replace him? Hehe... Will you retrieve his organs with your sand? Will you reattach his head with your sand?!"**

The fiery figure in the Akatsuki cloak leapt up to the sand demon's head, landing right in front of Gaara. His feet immediately began to melt the sand around them.

Shukaku desperately tried to dislodge the boy, but before he could succeed, Naruto/Kyuubi reached out and grabbed Gaara's face with a burning hand, fingers poking into Gaara's eyes and mouth. Then they pulled hard, using their grip on Gaara's skull to rip off his head.

Shukaku let out a piercing shriek, and dissolved into sand. Naruto/Kyuubi leapt off of their unstable perch and landed several yards back.

Dropping the scorched, bleeding head, they turned their manic grin on the terrified Suna ninja. **"Who's next?"**

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Kakashi stopped the two younger ninja when they approached the city gate. It was eerily quiet, and the presence of evil had gradually lessened, which was somehow even more disconcerting than feeling it had been. Kakashi looked over at the base of the wall to see...

A recently killed chuunin. Kakashi jogged to the corpse and knelt down to get a closer look. He could see the obviously fatal gash in the throat, and, being a jounin, noticed the slight scorch marks around the edges of the wound.

Shikamaru noticed it, too. "Kakashi-san, you thinking that this was done by whoever we're following, I mean, with the burns and all..."

Kakashi nodded.

Ino stood back, but looked around the kneeling jounin. "He looks like he didn't expect the attack. He doesn't have any other signs of a fight, and hasn't even opened his kunai pouch yet," she pointed at the closed pouch that dangled from one leg.

Kakashi stood slowly, and tried to sense the evil he had felt when they had first seen Suna from several miles away. Nothing. "We need to find it quickly, but it's obviously too dangerous to split up. Let's be quick. Follow me."

Kakashi set a fast pace as they ran into and through the city. Bodies littered the streets, and broken or burning houses vastly outnumbered the ones which remained.

The team continued through the deathly silent city, looking for any sign of their target, or of any life at all, until they came to a large square which was covered in oddly shaped pieces of glass.

Kakashi turned over a severed head with his foot, and recognized, despite the burns and the gouged-out eyes, the once terrifying Gaara of the Desert.

Ino felt sick. These people hadn't been killed. They had been slaughtered. As they kept walking into the city, towards the town's administrative facilities, they found more and more bodies, until it became difficult to walk without stepping on one.

As they encountered even more corpses, Kakashi mused that they must have been defending the administration from whatever it was.

Shikamaru tried to think of what could have done this. Something with claws, something with no sense of humanity, something that used lots of fire. "Hey, Kakashi-san."

"What is it, Shikamaru?"

"Do you think we could be following some sort of demon? I mean, this sort of fits the description of what happened when the Kyuubi attacked Konoha, except on a smaller scale, obviously."

Kakashi nodded. "That's exactly what I think."

Ino flinched, reminded suddenly of the Kyuubi in Naruto's mind. "Kakashi, what do think it is? Could it be... the Kyuubi has returned?" _Could it be that Naruto is somehow alive?_

Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow. She was either quick, or a really good guesser. "Well, since we're on a mission to track and capture or kill it, I guess I should tell you guys what I know. I didn't really want to, but after seeing this, it's obvious that you need all the information you can get

"While we can't be sure what we're following, before we left my nin-dog, Pakkun, told me that it smelled just like something that had killed some of our villagers several years ago. He later told me that it also smelled just like the tainted area of town had right after the invasion.

First, you should know that the Kyuubi was never defeated. He was merely sealed into a newborn baby. Naruto. The seal was supposed to kill the Kyuubi when Naruto died, but it's hard to tell what affects the seal had.

" So, my best guess is that somehow the Kyuubi survived Naruto's death, or that somehow Naruto survived. Right now, it seems more likely that Naruto survived, given that the Kyuubi would not probably be in a human shape, wearing an Akatsuki cloak, like the guards told us the target was."

Ino was stunned, but Kakashi was focused more on Shikamaru. "Shikamaru, I value your opinion, given what you see here, do you think we have a chance of capturing Naruto or Kyuubi, or at least killing him or them? If not, we should probably return immediately to report this... massacre."

Shikamaru thought for a moment. "Well, we have Ino, who should be able to control him, so I think we can capture him fairly easily as long as we can keep him still enough for Ino to use her technique. It would be better to tell the Hokage about this after we stop him."

Kakashi turned to his other comrade. "Ino, what do you think?"

"I can't, Kakashi-san. Not just because I'm scared, but I tried my technique on Naruto before, and it... doesn't work well, to say the least."

Kakashi frowned. "What do you mean it doesn't work well?"

"I mean, well, I couldn't actually control him. Because of the Kyuubi, Naruto was able to resist my technique. And I sort of got stuck in his mind until he died, or whatever happened at the end there..."

Kakashi stared the girl like she had grown a third arm. "Why didn't you tell anyone?! We could use information like that! Like when we picked you for this mission because of that technique of yours!"

Ino looked down. "I... didn't want to talk about it..."

Kakashi sighed. "Shikamaru, you think we should go back to Konoha?"

The lazy chuunin nodded, and Kakashi took the lead as they returned to Konoha.

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Naruto ran along the road at a quick speed, away from Suna, and away from Konoha. One less village to worry about. One less group of ninja that would be pursuing him.

But somehow Naruto didn't feel any better. To be sure, he was deadened to the horror of killing after a while.. In fact, it was fun, maybe not as fun as Kyuubi suggested, but still enjoyable. But it wasn't as fulfilling as he had hoped. Naruto had thought that maybe, if he got rid of most of the people he was worried about, he would feel better, safer. But he didn't.

_**Maybe it's because you still have Konoha after you?**_

_We don't know if they're actually after me. And really, we didn't know if Suna was, but better safe than sorry, I suppose._

_**So, are we going to take out Konoha next?**_

_What is with you and destroying Konoha? Is that some sort of obsession for you?_

_**No. It's just that they might be after us, and better to make sure we're safe than to live hoping they don't come after us.**_

_So why did you attack Konoha in the first place? Surely you weren't afraid they would attack you._

_**I attacked Konoha because it was there. I needed something to do, and I happened to be in the area.**_

_...I don't see any reason we need to attack them. We'll just go somewhere far away and maybe they'll leave us alone._

_**You didn't have any problems getting rid of Suna. Are you getting soft on me?**_

_I just don't see any reason to attack them. We can go live peacefully in some town or something far away from here._

_**Do you really think they'll leave us alone, especially after they find out what happened to Suna?**_

_How would they know that we did that?_

_**The claws marks, burns marks, melted sand, lingering presence and scent of my chakra...**_

Naruto kept running, farther and farther away from the places he had known before.

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"Hokage-sama, couldn't there be some other way?"

"Ino, you were there. This person, whom I no longer doubt is the Kyuubi, destroyed an entire village. We can no longer take chances. So I sent several teams of ANBU."

"But Tsunade, Naruto is still in there somewhere, or the Kyuubi wouldn't have a human body, right?"

"Whether Naruto is in there or not, he is obviously not in control, and we can't just let him go unchecked until he regains control. I'm sorry if this bothers you, Ino, but we don't really have any other choice."

Ino frowned, and left the Hokage's office without a word. When she got home, she began to pack her things, and set out for the village gates. Suddenly an ANBU appeared next to her.

"Yamanaka Ino, the Hokage has ordered me to make sure you don't leave the village without permission."

Ino briefly considered trying to get past the ANBU, but she knew that wasn't going to work, so she went back home and hoped that things would work out.

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Tsunade signed that last bit of paperwork, authorizing Konoha to adopt the homeless shinobi that once belonged to Suna. Many ninja had, of course, been on missions, and the Hokage had set up a place in the ruins of Suna to direct the returning ninja to Konoha. It wouldn't do to let them all go renegade, and what better place to go than their ally's village?

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Naruto stopped in the first village he came to. Sure, it wasn't all that far from Suna, or the place that used to be Suna, but Konoha probably hadn't found out about that yet. Naruto walked through the streets, wondering what he should eat. Sure, he had plenty of money, since Kyuubi had been kind enough to remind him to loot the bodies intact enough that their cash incinerated, so it was just a matter of taste. For some reason, meat sounded good. Raw meat.

Naruto walked over to a butcher's stall in the market, and gestured at a large piece of meat in the back that was hanging out to dry. Naruto didn't bother to wonder why the blood still dripping from it made his mouth water.

The butcher got the meat down, and was about to cut it up, when Naruto stopped him. **"No, leave it like it is."**

The guy gave Naruto a weird look, but shrugged it off. "That'll be-"

Suddenly the butcher froze and his eyes widened. Naruto felt the presence behind him, and Kyuubi blasted the attacker away with a burst of demonic chakra he shot from Naruto's back. Naruto turned around to face at least a dozen ANBU, whose forehead protectors proudly showed the Konoha leaf symbol.

Naruto scowled, and dropped into a fighting stance. Kyuubi pumped more chakra into Naruto, whose teeth lengthened into fangs and whose nails formed into claws. Naruto's whisker marks became longer and thicker.

The ANBU all looked at the one who must have been the leader. The leader nodded, and several ANBU sprang at Naruto, swords and kunai extended. Kyuubi hit them with another shockwave of evil chakra, effectively stopping them in midair, and Naruto used this opportunity as best he could. Several Narutos jumped from his body and slashed at the ABNU with cruel claws.

The ANBU blocked with their blades, which began to melt when they came in contact with the concentrated demon chakra that made the clones. More clones poured out of Naruto, attacking without any sort of battle cry or warning. The ANBU fought fiercely, but the clones were fast and furious, and were occasionally protected by bits of Kyuubi's chakra that floated in the air around Naruto.

The ANBU pulled out al the stops. Some leapt onto roofs and attempting to attack Naruto from above, while others jumped back and used powerful water and earth jutsu to try and counter the obviously fire-oriented chakra.

Clones leapt out of Naruto, who still had not moved, and countered the attacking ANBU, while some replaced the clones who were destroyed by the recent jutsus. The ANBU were skilled, and took few wounds from the battle-crazed clones, but could not get an opening to attack the real Naruto, who stood in front of the butcher's stall.

The ANBU fought fiercely, concentrating on their individual opponents. So it was a complete surprise to one ANBU when Naruto reached out with a hand, and a giant red hand shot out and grabbed him, reeling him in to the real Naruto.

The ANBU, whose arms were pinned to his sides, was helpless to resist when Naruto bit into his throat. Naruto dropped the now-lifeless body onto the ground beside him.

The other ANBU backed off, and Naruto thought for a moment that they might retreat, before he suddenly found himself tied to a tree that had appeared behind him? But there wasn't any tree there before.

_Crap. Genjutsu. I am so screwed._

_**What are you talking about, kit? I don't see anything different.**_

_We're tied to a tree in a genjutsu._

_**...Really? I don't see any tree, just some guy messing with your chakra.**_

_That's what we call genjutsu._

_**Oh. Well then...**_

The ANBU charged, seeing the container stopped in his tracks by their comrade's genjutsu. But when they got close, they felt a small pulse of the demon's power, and suddenly noticed that the demon looking right at them.

"Get back! He broke the-"

BOOM. Kyuubi engulfed the elite ninja in an inferno of evil chakra, burning and damaging everything it touched. The butcher's stand flew into pieces behind Naruto, as well as the other nearby market stalls, their owners safe since they had run away at the first sign of a fight.

Naruto felt the familiar pain of using so much chakra so close to himself, but made no move to stop Kyuubi's raging storm of chakra.

The ANBU, of course, were not elite ninja for nothing, and managed, one way or another, to escape the whirlwind. They saw the demon child crouch down on all fours, apparently planning to spring at them himself. The ANBU assumed fighting stances, only to flinch when two large, red hands burst from the ground, each grabbing a nearby ANBU. The hands crushed and burned the ANBU to death, before reaching for more.

The other ANBU leapt back, avoiding the hands and scanning the ground for any more surprises of like kind. Seeing nothing, they looked back up at the demon child, who now stood tall, still by the remnants of the shop he had destroyed.

They sensed, too late, that it was a clone. The real Naruto dropped from the sky, and blasted them with enough evil chakra to both inflict serious damage and stun the ones that lived, making them easy to finish off.

Naruto looked around, but that appeared to be the last of them. Of course, now there was nowhere to buy meat.

_**Well, the ANBU are just sitting there, and it's not like anyone else will eat them.**_

_But they're people. That's disgusting._

_**Hey, meat is meat. Besides, if you were a real ninja, you wouldn't let your emotions and feelings get in the way of things you need to do.**_

_...Perhaps, but-_

_**But you're too weak. Still holding on to those feelings. Whatever.**_

_I'm not weak I just... well, I guess they are still meat, and..._

_**And so it doesn't make any difference if they're pig, like the stuff you were gonna buy, or human. Either way, they're already dead, so it's not like you're killing them for food.**_

Before Naruto decided, he noticed the villagers staring at him from hiding places around the market area.

_Um, they've seen us use your power, so..._

_**They have to be killed.**_

_Well, I wasn't going to put it so harshly, but... yeah._

By the time Naruto finished off the last of the villagers, Naruto made his decision.

The villagers tasted just like pork.

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Tsunade groaned after reading the report. A dozen dead ANBU found in the wreckage of a village. Not to mention the civilian casualties. No survivors.

And some of the people had been... eaten. There weren't any large carnivorous animals in the area, so that meant...

Tsunade shuddered.

"Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade looked up at Kakashi. "What? Oh yeah, I called you up here. Well, Kakashi, it's looking like force isn't gonna work. He killed three teams of ANBU and an entire village in the fight. I'm not sure if Naruto is in control any more, but if he is, or if he is able to do anything at all, it might be worth a try to send his former friends to try and get him. I want you, Asuma, Kurenei, and the rookie nine to go after him. Kiba should be able to track for you, even if your dogs won't."

Kakashi almost smacked himself. Why hadn't he thought of that before?

"Be extremely careful. Don't attack unless he attacks first, and if it comes to fighting, leave as soon as it gets bad. We don't need to lose the next generation of ninja on one mission."

The copy-nin nodded, and moved toward the door.

"And Kakashi..."

The jounin turned to look back at the serious face of the Hokage.

"Do whatever you need to do."

The guards outside thought Kakashi's visible eye showed some sort of sadness, but it was hard to tell with him.

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AN: Well, I was going to write a bit more, but decided I'd post sooner rather than later. I hope this looks alright to you guys. I have no idea when the next chapter will be, but hopefully within a month or so. And as usual, if you have comments, suggestions, constructive criticism, random things to say, or just want to let me know you read the chapter, feel free to review. See you all later. Well, I won't _see _you, but you know what I mean...

-demonicnargles


	3. Effugere: To flee

AN: If anyone's wondering how long Repossession is going to be... I have no idea. I'm aiming for at least as long as Possession (though in fewer, longer chapters), but I don't really know. Hope you like chapter three.

-demonicnargles

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A boy walked into the small town, his platinum blonde hair moving slightly in the wind. The passers-by wondered at his strange cloak, black with red clouds, but did not think it was anything other than a unique fashion.

The new arrival looked around the main street of whatever town this was, seeing kids playing, and adults shopping at the market stalls or eating recently purchased food. Before the newcomer could decide what to do, his thoughts were interrupted by a young girl.

"Hey, mister, where'd you get that cloak? It looks kind of cool."

The owner of said cloak looked down at the small brown-haired child who had spoken to him. He hadn't really planned on replying, but the girl's expectant gaze demanded some sort of answer. "I... got it from a guy I met once. He didn't need it anymore."

A small boy walked up. "Hey, mister, did you put those red clouds on the cloak to match your eyes? They're like the same color as your eyes!"

The cloaked individual looked slightly uncomfortable, but said, "No, the cloak was already like that."

More small children came over to him. "Hey, how did you get such cool eyes? They're like a cat or something!" "Why don't you wear shoes, mister?" "Are you new here? How long are you going to stay?"

Before the stranger really knew what was going on, he had become part of a game of hide-and-seek with the children in the market. It wasn't really that bad. Maybe he could hang here for a while, since no one knew his secret. The blonde had been planning to pick a new place to live anyway...

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Kakashi followed Kiba down the road. It seemed that their target, the Kyuubi or Naruto, had stuck to the road. Even though Kiba couldn't always pick up Naruto's scent, he could always find the evil stench of the demon, which was for whatever reason so strong that Kiba began to wonder how his fellow ninja couldn't also smell it.

The rest of the rookie nine followed close behind Kakashi. Chouji sort of lumbered quickly, still eating potato chips, next to Shikamaru, who managed to run while keeping his hands in his pockets and his gaze on the clouds. Ino ran with them, unusually silent, with her long hair flowing in the breeze. Sakura followed behind, looking worried. Neji and Tenten ran on either side of Rock Lee, who easily kept pace with the group, despite the weights and despite the fact that he was running on his hands. Kurenai and Asuma brought up the rear.

As they ran, Asuma turned to his fellow jounin. "Hey, Kurenai. Do you really think we can bring him back? I mean, if he's done what they said he has, I'm not sure the genin and Shikamaru will be safe."

Kurenai sighed. "I hope so."

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Naruto sat in the street next to the last boy left as they waited for the kid's mother to finish shopping. They could see her down the street, talking to another woman.

"Hey, mister."

Naruto rolled his eyes on the inside, but kept a straight face as he turned to look at the kid beside him. "Hm?"

"Where are you from?"

Naruto paused. He couldn't risk telling people that he came from Konoha. "Nowhere."

The boy looked confused. "What? You have to come from somewhere, don't you?"

Naruto smirked, his red eyes shining slightly in amusement. "Nope. I didn't come from anywhere. Just appeared at the edge of town here."

The boy furrowed his eyebrows. "But... but... how did you get here, if you didn't come from somewhere?"

Naruto chuckled slightly, his laughter deeper, softer, and more mature sounding than the laughter he had been known for in Konoha. "I just appeared there. Wasn't born or anything. Just came in existence at the edge of the village." Naruto thought it sounded silly, even to himself, and was thinking of some other way he could explain his arrival should anyone else ask.

The little boy shrugged. "Okay, if you say so. But how did you get this cloak from someone you knew if you came into existence at the edge of the village?"

"I knew him in a former life." Which was technically true. Itachi had attacked him before he... almost died? Died?

"What, so you got the cloak in some other life?"

"Exactly. You catch on pretty quick." Naruto rolled his eyes. Kids were so strange.

"Wow, that's pretty cool."

They looked up to see the boy's mother walking toward them. "I guess I'll see you later, kid. Unless I disappear like I appeared."

"Don't do that, mister! We had fun today! You should come play with us like that again!"

Naruto's lips curved into what could have been a genuine smile. "Maybe I'll hang around for a while."

The woman stopped in front of them. "Come on, son. It's time to go home." She turned to look at Naruto. "And I suppose you are the one the kids have all been talking about? Have you found a place to stay yet?"

Naruto cocked his head to the side. "Yeah, I'm that guy. And I was thinking I'd sleep in a tree somewhere. Or maybe on the ground, if the trees are too small."

The woman frowned. "I can't let you sleep outside. Why don't you stay with us for this night at least?"

"Alright, I guess." Naruto stood up, shaking the dust from his cloak, which he still had wrapped around him to preserve his modesty.

They began to walk down the street. The woman up at him. "I don't think I caught your name?"

"You can call me Aku (AN: Japanese for evil)."

The mother did a double take. "Who names their child that?"

"No one."

"What do you mean?"

The little boy jumped into the conversation.

"He told me all about him, mom! He's from nowhere! And so no one named him!"

Naruto smirked. "You're a quick thinker, kid."

The mother looked confused, but shrugged it off, figuring the nice stranger was joking around with the boy. They arrived at a little house, and sat around a little table to eat dinner. The mother thought this Aku was rather polite, although she didn't find out anything about where he had come from, because he kept playing along with her son, never being serious..

After dinner, she showed Naruto a room with a small bed, and said she would awaken him in the morning. She left him with some black pants and a black shirt to sleep in. Before he went to bed, Naruto put on the pants, if only so that he wouldn't have to worry so much about letting cloak open in the future.

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Naruto dreamed. He saw Sasuke fighting Gaara all over again, but couldn't see Gaara. Sasuke dodged and wove around arms and pillars of sand. Naruto was confused. Where was Gaara? Suddenly Naruto felt himself extend his arm, and saw Gaara's arm go out in front of him. He was Gaara.

Naruto was helpless to resist as he killed Sasuke. And for what seemed like hours, he looked at the mangled remains of Sasuke.

Then Naruto felt a sense of danger that seemed out of place. Like it was more real than the battle happening now, after Sasuke's death. He heard a faint voice, that grew louder with every repetition.

Awaken. Awaken. Awaken!

**Wake up idiot! They're here!**

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Kakashi looked down at the sleeping form of what appeared to be Uzamaki Naruto. Even while the boy slept, the copy-nin could feel the activity of Kyuubi's chakra. Kakashi formed a few seals for a long-lasting sleeping jutsu, to prevent any trouble on the way back. The masked jounin finished the seals and reached down with a hand to apply the jutsu.

Kakashi barely kept from crying out in surprise when Naruto suddenly woke and grabbed Kakashi's wrist. Kakashi had a bad feeling about this, even before Naruto's red eyes began to glow with an angry inner light.

Asuma, Kurenai and their teams waited outside for Kakashi to return. Kakashi was going to make sure Naruto or Kyuubi or whatever wouldn't awake, and then they could return to Konoha without any problems.

The sudden blast of killing intent caught them all off guard, but put them on guard so that the house's explosion did not. Kakashi flipped in the air and landed on his feet next to the other jounin. "This could be a bit more difficult than we thought."

Asuma frowned. "Well, we did bring our teams to convince him..."

Kakashi grimaced. "I don't know how much that will help if he thinks I was attacking him in his sleep."

Asuma and Kurenai mouthed a silent 'oh'.

When the smoke cleared, the 3 teams saw Naruto, or what appeared to be Naruto at any rate. Except for the red eyes, claws and tails, and the growing storm of red chakra surrounding him.

Kakashi spoke first. "Naruto, we just want to bring you back to Konoha with us. We can help you resist the Kyuubi, and stop him from doing what he did in Suna. I know you wouldn't do anything like that on your own."

The three teams felt vaguely disturbed at the manic laughter that Naruto responded with. They saw the demon child tilt his head to one side, and give a slight smile. "Yes, Kakashi, that would explain why you didn't even bother to wake us before attacking. Yes, it's because you care. Do you really think we're that stupid?"

Kakashi tried to reason with him. "Naruto, we just wanted to avoid letting the Kyuubi get out like he is now. Here, I can put a temporary seal on you to free you from Kyuubi's influence for a while, and then when we get back to Konoha, Jiraiya can replace it with a more permanent seal, so that these things don't happen again."

The jounin thought that he had convinced Naruto, judging from the way the boy paused after listening. But the soft, dark chuckling, which was somehow even more frightening than the loud laughter from before, told him otherwise.

"You really don't get it, do you, Kakashi? We've already been hunted by ANBU, sent to kill us. You guys are just here to get me to return with you so they can kill me back there, or put so many seals on us that we'd never be able to use chakra again. Not that you could know that most of your seals wouldn't work, or that I would figure it out."

The three jounin were floored. Most of the seals wouldn't work?

Naruto appeared to smile at their confusion. "Most of the seals that could be used revolve around strengthening or modifying my current seal. Or rather, the seal I used to have." Naruto opened his Akatsuki cloak, and showed them his bare stomach. (AN: Keep in mind that Naruto is now wearing black pants under the cloak. He's not flashing them.) The assembled ninja looked, but they saw only lean, wiry muscles. No seal.

_Good thing that reincarnation doesn't bring back old seals. Of course, Kyuubi's bound to me soul-to-soul by the old seal, but it doesn't have a physical presence now, so it's not a problem._

_**Really too bad it didn't let me free, but then, this is much more interesting than wandering by myself. A bit cramped... and we have to keep killing all these people...**_ Kyuubi hoped that he sounded reluctant to kill.

_Well, we don't have to kill them now. I mean, they used to be my friends and stuff._

_**They attack you in your sleep and you think we can afford to let them go?**_

Naruto was silent. He closed his Akatsuki cloak. _I don't think we really need to kill them. Even if they come after us, we can just into some country that doesn't like Konoha._

_**They obviously came here on order, kit. They won't just let you go.**_

_...Maybe if we just kill one, the rest will leave us alone?_

_**You lived in Konoha before, didn't you? Killing one will make them all mad and you'll have to kill all of them. I didn't advocate killing them just for my own benefit.**_ Just mostly.

Naruto felt trapped by what seemed to be the only logical conclusion. _Wait, if we just kill the jounins? The genin will run away, probably._

Kyuubi mentally frowned. But killing three people was better than killing no one...

Kakashi waited for Naruto to go on. But the boy just stood there looking down at the ground. Kurenai leaned over to him.

"Kakashi, did you notice how he referred to himself as 'we'?"

Kakashi's visible eye widened. If Naruto said 'we', then that could only mean...

"He's been repossessed."

The ninja paid no attention to the civilians gathered around the area, watching and waiting for a chance to search the destroyed house for any survivors.

Kakashi spoke up. "Naruto, why are you so quiet?"

Naruto looked up, his mouth curved into a frown. "I was figuring out how many of you I need to kill to get the rest of you to leave."

Naruto had meant it to sound gracious, after all, he had decided against killing all of them, hadn't he? But from the effect he could see his statement having on the assembled ninja, he knew that they didn't see it that way.

They didn't seem inclined to move first, so Naruto chose to attack first. One seal later, an army of fiery, demonic clones attacked the leaf-nin.

Kakashi leapt away from the first charge of the clones, but had to immediately run back to help defend the slower genin. These clones were not difficult to kill, a single hit destroyed them, but they were incredibly fast and aggressive. The clones used claws, fangs, fists, feet, knees, and any other available body part to attack.

Neji fought gracefully through the sea of clones. He could see them all clearly with his Byakugan, and the clones were too intent on attack to think of attacking from his blind spot. Neji dodged clawed hand and tapped the offending clone, which disappeared in a flash of red.

While the jounin tried to help the other struggling genin, Neji worked his way toward Naruto. Kakashi had explained that in case they failed to convince Naruto, they would have to kill or capture him, and so Neji slowly made his progress to the demon container.

Suddenly the Hyuuga dodged an attack and sprinted right at Naruto. He saw Naruto turn those blood-red eyes his way, and mentally braced himself for the worst.

A large red hand shot out of Naruto's chest straight at Neji, who dodged to the side and ran up to the angry blonde. Neji tapped a few tenketsu before he had jump back to avoid another clawed hand.

Neji couldn't get near for a moment as the whirlwind of evil chakra drew closer to the container to protect him, and so the Hyuuga could only watch in fascination as the sealed tenketsu were forcibly opened by the demon's chakra.

Suddenly Naruto, the real one, leapt straight at Neji. Neji dodged and blocked, but every block burned his arms, and Neji couldn't permanently seal any tenketsu. Neji jumped back, preparing to use the Kaiten to knock the demon away.

But Naruto was too fast, and hit Neji several times with two fingers on each hand. Neji immediately felt horrible pain as large amounts of caustic chakra were shoved into his body. Although the blonde had missed Neji's tenketsu completely, the white-eyed boy couldn't help but acknowledge the effectiveness of the attack.

Neji grew slower and slower as the poisonous chakra ate away at his internal coils and organs, until Neji failed to dodge Naruto's claws, which promptly ripped across his throat. Neji fell to the ground.

Tenten saw this, and in a fit of rage, jumped high into the air, unfurling two scrolls to attack the demon with her signature move. But once in the air, she couldn't dodge the long red arm that reached out and grabbed her, and she was too surprised to escape before it reeled her back to the miniature Kyuubi.

Kakashi looked up when he heard a high-pitched scream. Neji and Tenten! He had been so busy helping Ino from the clones that he had failed his team. Kakashi's sharingan eye, uncovered in the fight, saw that there was no chakra left in their bodies. Two teammates down. Remembering the Hokage's warning, Kakashi yelled for everyone to run away.

Naruto looked up and saw the retreating backs of the leaf-nin, and, still filled with a lust for blood and battle, reached out one more time, underground.

Kakashi gasped in surprise and horror when a red hand popped from the ground and grabbed him. The hand pulled him back to the demon child, but before he was within range, Kakashi broke from the hands grasp and landed on the ground a few yards from the demon container.

Ino looked back, and saw Kakashi preparing to face Naruto. "NO! Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi looked back for a moment, motioning for the team to leave him, before returning his gaze to the unholy genin before him.

Naruto struggled with his thoughts. Or were they Kyuubi's? It was hard to tell, sometimes, they were so alike. He couldn't kill his old sensei when that sensei was going away anyway. But he had to kill his heart to be a real ninja. He was too weak. He had never been a real ninja. And now he was a coward too, because he really wanted to let the jounin go out of fear. Who said that? Naruto didn't know, but whoever it was made sense to him.

Naruto suddenly sprang toward Kakashi, fangs bared and claws at the ready. Kakashi moved to form some seals, when two of the remaining clones grabbed his arms. Where had they come from?

Naruto thrust a clawed hand through Kakashi's torso, watching as the jounin gasped and sputtered blood. Naruto smirked.

Then the jounin burst into smoke, and Naruto cursed aloud. Lost him. We'll get him next time. We? Or I? Aren't we me, or am I us?

Either way, they or he was or were annoyed at the crying villagers, who had seen to much already, at any rate.

Hours later, as Naruto jogged down the road, he decided that maybe he hadn't needed to kill all of the villagers. But they were there, and he was already in a killing sort of mood. What was a village or two in the grand scheme of things, anyway?

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Kakashi reported back to Tsunade. "Mission failed. Two casualties."

The Hokage took a large swig of sake. It was not a good day.

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Naruto wandered into Cloud country, and settled in a small village there. For years, no one came looking for him, and so he stayed and became just another member of the town. Until this year...

Tsunade looked up from her paperwork. "Sakura, you are to take your genin team on a C-ranked mission. There is a guy in this village in Cloud, not far past the border, that owes our client some money. Find him, get the money, and get back. And avoid any Cloud ninja."

The pink-haired medic nodded, and led her team out the door.

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AN: So, I was lazy for a while and didn't really write a lot. I would have made this chapter longer, but instead opted to post early. I hope you guys don't mind.


	4. Psychological Warfare

AN: Just so it's not so confusing, I'll be breaking sometimes at POV switches, which do not necessarily mean any time has passed. I just think it makes it clearer whose thoughts we're following. Hmmm... yes. Chapter four, GO!

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Naruto got up early and went to hang out in town center like he normally did. The owners of the nearby stores really appreciated it, and gave him stuff for doing so, so Naruto just went with it.

The blonde-haired ninja remembered the first day he had come to town, when one of the numerous large gangs in the area had decided to stock up on provisions by looting the village. Having nothing better to do, Naruto had intervened and killed every single member of the gang, without even having to use a visible amount of Kyuubi's power. While the people of the town had been a bit put off by the gruesomeness of the slaughter, they had still been exceedingly grateful for the help, since this sort of thing was common in the area. In exchange for food and a place to stay, Naruto agreed to hang around the village and _take care of_ any gangs that got a bright idea.

So Naruto wandered around the city a lot, talking to the many people or entertaining kids and sometimes their parents with cheap ninja tricks. Over the years, Naruto had come to know everyone in the town. Not their names, since that would imply that he had some sort of attachment to them, and Naruto knew that at any time he could be forced to do what he had done many times before, but Naruto was familiar with everyone. And the people were amused at the nicknames he came up with for people, since he never called anyone by name.

"Hey, Aku!"

Naruto looked over at a large, middle-aged man with black hair and a long beard. The guy was some sort of blacksmith, if Naruto recalled correctly. "Yes, Blackbeard-san?"

"I was wondering if you could help with a sort of... personal problem."

"... What sort of problem are we talking about?"

"You see, I owe a certain man quite a lot of money, and I haven't gotten all of it ready yet. I can pay him soon, but I have heard that he hired ninja to take the money from me. If I lose that much money right now, I would have to sell my house and everything, so I need just another few weeks or so to get the money. So, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind, you know, protecting me against any ninja that might come around?"

Naruto tilted his head and looked at the man for a minute. "What makes you think I can defeat ninjas?"

The man laughed out loud. "I heard about how you've killed every gang that ever attacked this place, without even taking a single hit. That requires a certain amount of skill, and I don't think they're going to be sending elite ninja to threaten little old me. I don't think it will be a problem for you. It's not like I expect you to take the fall for me, but if you can, I'd like you to help."

Naruto thought about it for a moment. The village was in Cloud, so the ninja should also be from cloud, most likely. It would cause some problems if he killed the ninja... unless they were from another country, but that was improbable. Maybe if he hid the bodies... or ate them. Hard to find bodies that have been through the digestive tract.

Naruto nodded his head, and walked away from the grateful Blackbeard, plotting how best to hide the bodies of one to four cloud ninja.

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Sakura led her genin team toward the country of Cloud, training them as she went. This was just money retrieval mission, so it was not like they were in any danger. As long as they didn't run into that thing that might still be Naruto or might be the demon. It had vanished into Cloud country long ago, and Leaf didn't pursue it past the borders since Leaf and Cloud were not on good terms. But that was years ago, and it probably had left or gone away by now.

At least she hoped so.

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Naruto left the crowd of kids, who had been thoroughly impressed by his transformation into a dog and back. The parents laughed as well, but most of them were otherwise occupied, talking or shopping.

Naruto had decided that eating the cloud ninja was the best bet, but the only problem would be the bones. Maybe they could stash them in the graveyard, in a fresh grave?

Naruto smiled at Long-blonde-hair-san when she waved at him. She had become somewhat attached to him. The younger, unmarried woman had not made any effort to hide the fact that she liked him, though Kyuubi reminded Naruto all to frequently that he shouldn't get too attached to anyone, since if he had to destroy this village, too, she would no doubt become scared of him, and so he would probably end up killing her anyway.

Naruto looked down the long road that ran through the town, and suddenly caught sight of some people way down the road, walking toward the village. His improved vision in this body let him distinguish four people. The three smaller ones he didn't know, but he certainly knew Haruno Sakura.

Naruto henged into an ordinary looking person, a guy with black hair and a green eyes. The only unique thing about him was the red shoes he included in the illusion. Naruto decided to just observe.

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Sakura led her genin team to the village, hoping that they could get the money and return quickly. It wouldn't do to get caught by cloud ninja, even if only in a small village on the outskirts of the country.

Sakura had made sure that her team understood that they were not to let anyone know they were from Leaf country. They would just threaten the money out of the guy, and leave. No problems.

Her team walked into the town, leaf headbands safely stowed away. Sakura nodded, and her team split up to look around for the guy. They were going to meet back here in a few hours, as they had planned before, and whoever had found the guy could then lead them to him.

While her genin looked around, Sakura decided that it might be quicker if she persuaded some guy to tell her where the target lived, or better, where he could be found right now. Seeing a generic-looking guy standing in the road, apparently staring off into space, she approached him.

"Hey, sir. You live here?"

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Naruto watched the team with his peripheral vision, knowing that any ninja worth their kunai would notice a guy staring right at them. The smaller ones, probably genin, went their separate ways, but Sakura walked right up to him. Naruto and Kyuubi cursed their luck.

"Hey, sir. You live here?"

Naruto looked at her. "Yeah... I do."

"Maybe you could give me a tour, or at least tell me about the town. I just got here, and I don't know much about it."

Naruto resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the obvious attempt to act cute. It might have worked on some normal guy, but ninja knew better than to fall for that. And since he had outgrown his crush for this girl long ago, it was not a problem.

"Sure. Hn, how shall I go about it, then?"

Sakura acted like she had a sudden idea, but Naruto knew better. "Why don't we sit down and get a drink and you can tell me about the place?"

Naruto nodded assent, and turned toward the town's only bar. "Follow me."

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Sakura walked slowly behind the rather plain-looking man, planning out how she should act to get her information. Friendship, seduction, or drunkenness? Right now, she wasn't sure which, if any, would work. The guy seemed kind of distant, so unless he drank a lot, this could be difficult.

As they walked, Sakura wondered why all the people in the village seemed to be going home. It was not even noon yet, but everyone she saw was going inside. Maybe it was some local custom? Or did it have to do with the look they cast her guide before they turned and went inside? She wasn't sure, but something wasn't right.

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Naruto walked at a slow pace, making sure the villagers had ample opportunity to notice the red shoes, the sign that he gave when he might have to get violent. He saw the people notice the shoes, then walk indoors.

When he walked into the bar and sat down, Sakura began to try and get friendly. She was so intent on her task, Naruto was sure she didn't notice the patrons leave one by one, until he and Sakura were the only ones left. Even the bartender, after serving them drinks, went to the back of the store and into the maintenance closet.

Naruto wasn't paying a lot of attention to whatever Sakura was saying, until he heard the thing he had been waiting for.

"Do you know where I can find a blacksmith in town? I keep a dagger for self defense, but it got broken recently."

Naruto thought for a moment. Obviously Blackbeard's creditor had hired Konoha, since there were leaf-nin here asking about him. Then Naruto remembered that leaf ninja were not welcome in Cloud, so he didn't really even have to hide their bodies all that well. Assuming it got to violence, which it always seemed to do, anymore. The last time Naruto had tried a peaceful solution, the guy had started a fight, and since Naruto was sort of obligated to protect the villagers... well, things got out of hand, and after a few moments of ultra-violence, one of the guys in the village had suggested that he find some way to warn them of impending violence. Thus, the red shoes.

But what to do now? Should he tell Sakura where the smith stayed? No doubt those genin were already looking for him, and by the time they all met later, one of them would have found him. So, Naruto found that he had to either kill them all, or scare Sakura enough that they left. Naruto hoped Sakura wasn't much harder to scare than she had been back when he knew her.

But how to scare them off? Naruto didn't really want to reveal himself.

_**Just kill them already! You can't scare them without threatening them, and you can't make a good threat without revealing us.**_

Naruto didn't really feel all that much like violence today, especially against someone he had once considered a friend, but the fox had a point. Okay, so violence. If he was going to get violent, he should probably go outside.

Ignoring Sakura's strange look at him because of his long silence, he stood up and began walking out of the bar.

"I'll take you there."

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Sakura was a little worried. This guy was so weird, but at least she hadn't aroused his suspicion. And where the heck was everyone? She followed the man out of the deserted bar.

They got out in the middle of the road when her guide stopped.

Sakura became even more suspicious, and her fears were confirmed when the man turned to face her, his face set in an expression of deadly seriousness, what little emotion that had been shown on the face vanished without a trace.. "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan. I can't let you complete your mission here."

Sakura jumped. How could this guy from another country know here name? "Wh-who are you?" she asked as she dropped into a fighting stance. She was tempted to call for her genin, whom she sensed watching silently, but she needed to know how good this man was first. She couldn't risk her genin if this guy turned out to be a real threat. He didn't look like one, but even from several feet away, she could feel the repressed killing intent.

Sakura didn't even want to know how much killing intent you had to have before you couldn't even fully repress it.

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"Wh-who are you?"

Naruto knew from experience and from Kyuubi's suggestions that the more he weakened the opponent with psychological warfare, the less power he would have to use, and the less likely he would be to reveal himself. He knew he was leaking a little killing intent, but even if he was somewhat reluctant to go straight to violence with this girl, he had decided on violence.

But then Naruto had another thought. Konoha probably wouldn't pursue him into cloud, and cloud had no reason to dislike him. Maybe he could reveal himself to Sakura, scare her off.

_**You forget how much you did in Leaf. They couldn't possibly let you go.**_

_But they know that I killed even ANBU, and they wouldn't want to start a war with Cloud. I might not need to kill her._

_**Ninja should not let their emotions get in the way of their goals.**_

_But if I can end this peacefully... for once..._

_**Be that way, weakling. But if she comes back, or won't leave...**_

_...yeah, I know..._

"You don't remember your old teammate, Sakura-chan? We're disappointed." Naruto let none of his doubts affect his speech.

The pink-haired girl's eyes grew wide as dinner-plates. Naruto dropped his henge. "I protect this village, Sakura. And I won't have you threatening any of the people here. Why don't you go back to Konoha? The man you're looking for is gathering the money to pay your client right now. He just needs a little longer."

Sakura backed up, and Naruto stepped forward to match her. "You don't need to throw away your life and the lives of your team to get the money from a guy who will pay soon anyway." The blonde knew that her team was watching from around the street.

Sakura face hardened. "I can't go back with a failed mission. A failed C-rank, especially."

Naruto frowned slightly. When had she gotten so brave? And stupid. "You realize that our presence bumps the rank of your mission to S-rank? There's no shame in a genin team failing an S-rank mission."

Sakura drew a kunai. "I'm not weak like I used to be, Naruto. I _will_ complete this mission. So you can either get out of my way and come back with me, or I can beat you senseless and you can do both unwillingly."

Naruto blood-red eyes glowed slightly, and his scowl was obvious even behind the upturned collars of his cloak. "They're still trying to get us to come back? I thought we made it clear that we knew your real reasons for wanting us back. Leave before we lose our temper."

"You're going to regret getting in my way, Naruto." Sakura sprang at him, holding out her kunai.

Naruto may have been reluctant to kill his old friend, but he had no such inhibitions about her team. Naruto stood there until the last second, as Sakura swung her kunai with unstoppable force, and he Kawarimi'd with one of her students. The pink-haired medic-nin, not expecting such basic jutsu from an S-rank criminal, couldn't stop her own overpowered slash, and decapitated her own student with the huge force Tsunade had helped her learn.

The student's body fell to the ground, next to his head. Sakura stood, wide-eyed, tears already falling down her cheeks.

"You see, Sakura-chan, if you had just listened to us, this wouldn't have happened. Maybe you should leave while you still have a team."

Naruto and Kyuubi weren't quite sure what made most humans so stupid and weak, but whatever it was, it was happening to Sakura right now. They could see as she convinced herself to fight again, and they could almost feel her summon up a vast hatred. Naruto snorted quietly. Anger only helped demon hosts, since it allowed a better connection between the demon and the body, for some reason Kyuubi never explained.

But for normal humans, anger just made them aggressive and stupid. Sakura charged straight at him again. Knowing that she wouldn't fall for the same trick twice, Naruto and Kyuubi just leaped out of the way. Sakura ran past them, turned, and flung a few kunai.

Naruto barely moved to dodge the poorly thrown kunai. Now, how should they end this? Maybe another student's death? Naruto waited for Sakura to charge again.

But Sakura held out one hand, and Naruto saw each of her fingertips glow with chakra. He and Kyuubi snarled, recognizing the sealing technique Orochimaru had used on them, so long ago now. They weren't sure how it could affect them now, but they didn't plan on finding out.

Using a massive amount of chakra to bypass the need for seals, Naruto and Kyuubi created an army of demonic clones, most of whom immediately attacked Sakura. The blonde host watched dispassionately as she tore through the wildly aggressive clones, receiving only a few scratches.

The current residents of the red-eyed body were not worried, even as Sakura finished the clones and reactivated the sealing technique. Two fiery clones jumped to land next to the blonde, each holding an unconscious genin.

Naruto's voice was low and quiet. "Well, Sakura. How much is this mission worth to you? It's worth at least one student, we can see. But is it worth two or three?"

Sakura bared her teeth. "Leave them out of this!"

The blonde boy laughed, and smiled as he felt the familiar joy of bloodlust. "Leave them out? You brought them here. We won't let you finish your mission here, but we will gladly kill your students one by one." Their red eyes flashed in anticipation.

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Sakura was terrified, but there was no way she would let him or them know. She needed to save her students, but how could she go back with a failed mission? On the other hand, even assuming she could somehow defeat this demon boy, how could she go back having lost her entire team?

More tears fell from her eyes. Naruto was right, of course. This mission was now too difficult to complete. Even now, just a few scratches she had received burned slightly with what she knew to be demonic chakra, keeping her from healing herself.

Sakura accepted Naruto's offer, and left with her two remaining students. She didn't ask what Naruto planned to do with the body of the third, which she hadn't dared to ask for.

When she got back to Konoha, she let her students go home and delivered the mission report alone.

Tsunade knew something was wrong the moment she saw Sakura's face. "What happened?"

"Mission failed. One casualty."

"What? On a C-rank?"

Sakura began to cry again. "We ran into _him_, Tsunade."

Tsunade didn't have to ask who Sakura was talking about.

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Naruto realized that he had sort of exposed himself, since he knew that the people would have been watching from their windows, so he was rather surprised that everyone was so grateful. And he was even more surprised that no one seemed to care about the obviously evil power he had been using. Surely they had all felt it, but for some reason they didn't care.

Naruto had brushed off Black-hair-san's attempts to offer him money or things for taking care of the ninja that afternoon. It wasn't like he needed money or stuff, and besides, this was something he had agreed to do. It sort of fell in that category of helping the village, and he already got free food and lodging for that, so...

At least, that's what he told himself. Kyuubi just laughed at him and said nothing.

Naruto stared into space as he sat on a bench as dusk approached, and the people of the village, who had emerged from their homes shortly after he chased of Sakura, were slowly getting ready for night. He didn't turn his head when Long-blonde-hair-san sat down next to him.

"Aku, are you alright?"

Naruto turned a little to glance at her. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking."

"Well, I, I mean, we all wanted to let you know that we appreciate everything you do for us. I know that most of the time we would have done things differently, but you have always let us know that you're, well, you know..."

Naruto smirked. "Evil?"

The she nodded slightly. "You never made any attempt to appear otherwise, and so when you deal with situations in that way, we can't really complain, especially since you do it for us." She leaned onto his shoulder. "You don't have to be so distant to everyone, you know. We accept you for who you are, even if you are Evil itself."

Naruto felt warmer, for some reason. "Thank you, Blonde-san."

She smiled and stood to leave. "Have a good night, Aku. If you ever need anything..."

Naruto rolled his eyes. Like clockwork, every time he finished talking with her, she got into the 'if you ever need anything' speech. By now, Naruto had learned that she couldn't be convinced that he didn't deserve anything, because she basically ignored anything he brought up against himself. "See you later, Blonde-san."

She smiled once more and left, walking down the street to her house. Naruto smiled at her retreating back, glad that he had finally found a place where people accepted him as he was.

And he hadn't even had to kill anyone. Well, sort of. Technically, Sakura had killed him... and besides, one death was way fewer than normal.

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Tsunade had a new strategy. They were done being nice to the demon, whom she refused to call Naruto, since that was a human name. She looked straight at the masked ninja in front of her.

"Alright, Kakashi. I want you to go on a covert operation to that Cloud village. You are to make the villagers reject him, or at least make him think they do. Then, when he gets violent and starts killing the villagers, we can ask Cloud for permission to go get him, since Cloud won't want a demon in their borders.

"And before you ask, we do need to do this. If he is interfering with our missions, he is still a threat, and we can't just let him get away like we did years ago. So take whoever you think you'll need, Kakashi, and get going."

The jounin nodded and left.

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Kakashi picked up Shikamaru for his planning, Ino for her Mind-Body-Switch, Jiraiya for his sealing and combat abilities, and Kurenai for her genjutsu. He briefly explained the mission to them. They departed the next morning for Cloud.

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Naruto was cornered. There was no escape possible, because the resistance was getting tiring, and because Naruto knew he really didn't want to run away anymore.

"Fine, Blonde-san, I'll go to lunch with you," Naruto growled.

The woman in front of him practically jumped for joy, smiling broadly. "Great! Let's go, I already picked out a place!" She dragged him off to a nice restaurant.

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Kakashi and his team arrived at a clearing just outside the village in Cloud. "Alright, Shikamaru," the copy-nin turned to the lazy chuunin behind him. "You come up with any good plans?"

Shikamaru grunted. "The way I see it, we can go one of two ways. We can tell the villagers directly about him, and let them reject him on their own, or we can use Ino to make those close to him reject him very harshly. I would prefer the first, since it's a bit less dangerous, and since Sakura's report seemed to indicate he responded only in defense of the people here. So even if we get caught, there is a chance that he won't do anything, where if we were using Ino's technique, he might attack immediately."

Kakashi nodded. "We'll try it. Besides, if we can convince them that he's evil incarnate, who in their right mind wouldn't reject him?"

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Naruto couldn't help but grin slightly at the smiling blonde across from him. She was way too excited by this.

Long-blonde-hair-san brought up as much polite conversation as she could without violating the taboo against asking about his past. Naruto was glad that everyone had sort of figured out that he didn't want to talk about it, and after a while, no one asked about it.

Naruto had been out of practice as a ninja for so long, he didn't notice Kakashi looking in at him from outside the restaurant.

Kakashi signaled the rest of the team to begin spreading the information about this demon. Kakashi continued to observe, seeing a possibility for plan B if the villagers didn't believe them.

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AN: Well, yeah. Chapter four concludes here. Hope you enjoyed it. If you have comments, constructive criticism, or just want to let me know you read, go ahead and review.

-demonicnargles


	5. A heart of stone

AN: And chapter 5 is here. As you have already, no doubt, noticed. Is it late? Maybe. Probably. Ok, so it's late. I am terribly sorry about the wait. I have been incredibly busy lately, so I haven't had much time for sleep, let alone writing this. But I try...

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Kurenai let herself get absorbed into a gaggle of women who welcomed her to the city, and offered to show her around. The kunoichi let them drag her around, since she knew that it made them feel better, and that would make them more likely to believe her when she told them of the unspeakable evil that revealed itself in the blonde boy.

Jiraiya decided that he would start at a bar, and joined in a conversation already going on.

Shikamaru wandered around aimlessly until he found a place where a bunch of men were playing shogi.

Kakashi, after seeing that Naruto and his friend were not going anywhere anytime soon, left them at the restaurant and went to join a group of men talking outside of shops, apparently while their wives shopped.

Ino didn't know what to do. She couldn't find anyone she could fit with, and so she ended up just wandering around the village. Eventually, she found herself standing outside a restaurant, bored. She looked in the window, and jumped when she saw Naruto. She quickly cloaked herself in an easy genjutsu, but then she realized she needn't have bothered. Naruto was absorbed in a conversation with the blonde woman sitting across from him. This annoyed Ino for some reason.

After nearly an hour of watching, Ino noticed the two get up and leave the restaurant. She followed, still hidden from sight. Now that they were out of the building, she could hear what they were saying.

"I'm so glad you finally agreed to eat with me! It wasn't so bad, was it?" Ino frowned at the woman's cheerfulness, thought she didn't know why.

"It wasn't because I feared you would be uninteresting, Blonde-san. I just don't think it's very healthy to become to close to me."

"You know, Aku, just because you view yourself as some sort of curse doesn't mean the rest of us do. We really appreciate all that you do for us. And besides, you're polite and gentlemanly and generally a nice guy to be around."

"Except when I'm killing people."

The blonde woman laughed. "You get so hung up on that! You only kill when you need to, there's nothing wrong with that. I don't know where you got such ridiculous ideas about yourself, but you need to get rid of them now. I've never even once seen you do anything I didn't approve of."

Naruto smiled. "Thank you, blonde-san."

She smiled. "It's the least I can do."

They were silent for a few moments. This made Ino glad, because for some reason their conversation really annoyed her.

Suddenly a generic cloud ninja dropped from above and landed in the street in front of them. "Excuse me, sir and miss, have you seen any strange people around, or had any foreigners in the village recently. We heard that there have been some Leaf ninja crossing the border, and if so..."

The ninja didn't need to voice the permanent threat of war that had existed between the nations for decades.

"Well," said Blonde-san, "There was this leaf ninja team that came here a few weeks ago, on some mission. But they left a while ago."

The ninja raised his eyebrows. "Is that so... thank you, miss. If you see or hear of any more, please let us know. We have a man stationed in the bar right now if come up with any more information for us."

Naruto wasn't paying attention, because he and Kyuubi could smell a person behind them. But there was no one there.

Naruto and Kyuubi suddenly reached behind them with one arm, and grabbed some invisible object. Startled, Ino's genjutsu failed.

The cloud ninja, just about to leap off, immediately saw the leaf headband and dropped into a fighting stance. "Surrender now or face the consequences, leaf-ninja."

Ino, caught off guard, and afraid of what Naruto might do if she resisted, surrendered.

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Kurenai was confused. She had done everything correctly, getting to know them, talking about Konoha, then talking about the evil demon-possessed child who had left there, not mentioning his name, of course, since Naruto would probably have adopted a new one.

But for some reason, the villagers didn't get it. One of the women laughed. "Oh, you mean Aku! We always wondered where he came from. Do you know anything else about him?" The group of women leaned in, smiling, eager to hear more about the enigmatic Aku.

Kurenai didn't get it. What was wrong with these people?

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Kakashi was encountering similar problems. The men only seemed amused by Kakashi's descriptions of all the people had slaughtered.

One man asked, "So what did he do in Suna, we had heard about that, stranger, and it sounded like the way Aku does things. Do you know if he was there too?" The men all listened intently for the answer.

Kakashi just stared at the one who had asked the question. How could this man fail to be at least a little worried that this demon would kill them all?

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Jiraiya knew from his travels that the people around here were a little strange, but he had never really paid attention to that till now. The sannin had expected to lead the men at the bar to see that they were helping an enormously dangerous to everyone alive, including themselves. He had certainly not expected the total lack of surprise they showed at what Jiraiya said about Naruto's past.

Jiraiya was even more surprised when some of the less sober people told him about what Naruto, whom they called Aku, had done in the village. Protecting it from attack, repelling some 'stupid pink-haired leaf ninja' who had come to collect a debt in the city, and the list went on.

The white-haired pervert did not know how they could be so calm knowing about Aku's violent history, and how they couldn't see the danger to themselves.

Jiraiya didn't pay much attention to the other people in the back of the bar, who were dressed in military fashion, until they dragged in a blonde girl.

Ino.

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Ino was not sure what was going to happen to her. They had put some sort of manacles on her, which seemed extraordinarily heavy and seemed to such the chakra right out of any jutsu she attempted.

They took her to the bar and tossed her in a corner, and immediately began talking in hushed tones. Ino looked around the bar for anything that might help her escape. She almost laughed out loud when she saw Jiraiya looking at her. At least she still had her luck. A sannin to come to her rescue?

Ino saw Jiraiya begin to try and extract himself from the group he was talking in.

She heard two of the ninjas' voices get louder. "Why couldn't they have gone anywhere else. I hate this region, it's worse than a foreign country!"

"You said it, man. This whole region used to worship demons, and even thought most don't anymore, they still don't give a shit about evil or anything. I hear there's no native crime in the region, because they kill for any crime."

"So that's why we only ever hear about traveling bandits in the region?"

"Yeah, man, didn't you know that? These people look out for themselves. And _only_ themselves. They wouldn't give a damn if the whole rest of the world burned, in fact, they'd probably laugh about it. The only outsiders they really care about are the ones who help them. They don't have a problem being part of Cloud because we help them."

"I get it, that's why we never have debt-collection or similar missions out here."

"Yeah, man. They'd get pissed and rebel, just like they did to Konoha centuries ago. Of course, they aren't quite as military as they were back then, or at least I don't think so."

"What do you mean, you don't think so? If they had military power, we'd hear about it in intelligence reports."

"Well, man, they didn't seem to be military back when they rebelled, either. They hid it so well, that no one knew until Konoha sent a force to quell the rebellion. Then thy summoned minor demons and used their evil magic or chakra to destroy Konoha's men. I heard that the major demons originally came to this world because power hungry warlords from _this_ region summoned them, long ago."

"Damn, now I'm all creeped out. Thanks for making me scared to ever come here again."

"Hey man, as long as you don't mess with them, you're fine."

Ino saw them look up as Jiraiya approached. "What you guys doin' with such a pretty lady, huh?" Jiraiya said rather loudly.

"She is a prisoner, and you should know why, Jiraiya. You're ranked rather high in the bingo book, do you really think we can't recognize you?"

Jiraiya flinched, before smiling broadly. "Good, so you already know me! That saves me the trouble of introducing myself, and the trouble of explaining just how much I'll hurt you if you don't let her go." Jiraiya finished with a scowl.

"Why are you trespassing in Cloud, Jiraiya?" One of the Cloud ninja stepped forward, while the other five watched carefully.

The sannin laughed. "I don't think it's any of your business, and if you know what's good for you, you'll let her go before you ask any more questions."

The air thickened with tension.

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Asuma, Shikamaru and Kurenai met at the agreed-upon place, but when Ino, Kakashi and Jiraiya failed to appear, they set out to look for them. They worked around the city, looking into windows and behind buildings until they spotted them in the bar, where Jiraiya was apparently trying to get the Cloud ninjas to release Ino.

The three ninja walked into the bar to lend their support.

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Ino's heart felt even lighter when she saw the three more members of her team walk in and stand just in front of the door. The patrons hurried and left through the back, sensing the violence that might erupt at any moment.

Jiraiya smiled again. "Now, do you really want to get into a fight with all of us?"

Before the Cloud ninja could respond, they all felt a massive amount of killing intent, and Ino saw Asuma, Shikamaru and Kurenai blasted to the other side of the bar by an explosion of red chakra.

A short blonde boy walked in, dressed in black sandals, black pant, and a cloak, the blackness of which was interrupted by occasional red clouds. The boy's face was marked with strange, whisker -like markings on his cheeks, and by an utter lack of any sort of pity or kind emotion.

Ino's heart seemed to stop beating, any feeling of relief vanishing in an instant. Naruto stood in the doorway, looking around impassively.

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Naruto surveyed the scene. Asuma and Kurenai got up on the other side of the bar, a little hurt, mostly by the impact with the strong wooden wall. Shikamaru rose more slowly, holding his shoulder. Jiraiya seemed worried, and Ino and the Cloud ninja looked absolutely terrified.

Naruto and Kyuubi spoke slowly, in a low, rumbling voice. "Cloud ninja, take your prisoner and get out of here. Things are about to get... interesting."

The cloud ninja picked up Ino and ran past him out of the bar, as fast as they could. The leaf ninja were too scared of the blonde child to stop them.

The blonde turned his attention to the white-haired pervert. "So, Jiraiya, we heard you guys have been going around bringing up our past."

No one spoke for a while. At last, Jiraiya muttered, "We have our orders, Naruto. We have to do something."

Naruto mouth curved into something between and frown and a sneer. "Do something? About what?" Naruto's voice was laced with venom. "You just have to do something about the fact that we live in Cloud? Or that we protect this village? Or that we have friends here? Or that we're still alive, despite your best efforts? Or, I know, that we might at some distant point the future possibly be some vague sort of threat to you?"

Jiraiya looked down. As bad, as it sounded, that was sort of why they were here. Not because Naruto had actually threatened them, but mostly because they were afraid that he might someday be a threat. It sounded much better the way they had phrased it in Konoha, but...

"Naruto, you slaughtered an entire village. For no reason. What do think we're supposed to do? We can't just let you go."

The blonde host laughed, and Jiraiya almost thought he heard a deep, echoing voice laughing, too. "Of course you can let us go! It's not like you couldn't avoid coming here. And how would you know that I did what I did for no reason, unless you have mind-powers surpassing even that of that pathetic Yamanaka?"

Jiraiya had never felt so... evil before. They way Naruto made it sound, they were hunting him for pleasure or something. "Naruto-"

"Shut up and get out of Cloud country, or I'll kill you." Naruto and Kyuubi were not long on patience. Naruto had finally come to place were they could leave the past behind and this guy and his team were messing it up. And, of course, Kyuubi never passed a chance for bloodshed.

Slitted red eyes wandered over to Asuma, Shikamaru and Kurenai. "Same goes for you guys."

Jiraiya set his face in determination. "Naruto, I'm sorry, but this is necessary."

Just before Naruto replied, he heard a familiar chirping sound. Naruto crouched and then jumped high into the sky, through the roof of the bar, using his demonic chakra to blast a hole in the wooden building. Kakashi's Chidori barely missed him as the jounin ran under him.

Naruto flipped around in the air and landed on his feet in the road outside the bar. As the leaf ninja came out the door, Naruto and Kyuubi released more and more chakra, watching carefully. They saw the leaf ninja confer a moment, and then spring into action.

Asuma drew some sort of blades as he leaped forward, and Kakashi uncovered his Sharingan, pulled out a kunai and followed suit. But as Naruto prepared to face them, his world began to spin, and suddenly the ground was above him. Frowning, the blonde sent a blast of red chakra in all directions, dispelling the genjutsu and delaying the two men long enough for Naruto to regain his bearings.

Asuma ran forward and slashed with his handheld blades, which for some reason glowed blue. The glowing blades slashed right through red chakra, through the Akatsuki cloak, and made a deep slash into the flesh and bone of Naruto's torso. Kakashi halted his attack when he saw Naruto taken by surprise. Maybe this was already over.

Naruto fell to the ground and poofed into smoke, and before either jounin could do anything, a giant red hand shot from underground and grabbed Kurenai. The jounin struggled, but in vain. The grip was too strong the escape, and Kurenai's hands were trapped at his sides, useless.

Kurenai could not sense where Naruto was, and so could not cast any genjutsu. Kakashi formed a few seals and disappeared underground, looking blindly for Naruto. In a moment he was blasted back above ground by a beam of red chakra. Kurenai, now knowing where Naruto was, cast a powerful genjutsu, without hand seals and despite the agony she currently endured.

But the demon, even confused by the illusion, could still feel Kurenai in his grasp. Naruto shot up out of the ground, and slashed her across the face with his fiery claws of evil chakra. And again, and again.

One more slash and Kureani's brains were splattered on the ground. Asuma dropped to the ground and vomited. Kakashi just stared, his opened Sharingan memorizing the scene. Shikamaru froze in horror.

Naruto turned to face the remaining ninja. **"So, who's next?"** His mouth curved into a maniacal smile, and hearing no answer, crouched in preparation to spring forward.

"Stop!"

Naruto hesitated, and looked behind him, where the voice had come from. He saw Ino, covered in blood that must have come from her captors, holding Blonde-san with a knife to her neck.

"If you even think about attacking, Naruto..."

The boy in the Akatsuki cloak laughed out loud. **"Hahahaha!!! That's rich! You fools come here for morals reasons, and then what do you do? Why, you take an innocent hostage!"**

Naruto stalked towards Ino. **"And besides, I don't think you have the guts to do it, Ino. And even if you did, what then? You can't kill her, because if you kill her, you've lost your bargaining chip. And if you can't kill her, then she's not a bargaining chip at all, is she?"**

Ino's eyes widened, and Naruto laughed louder. **"No one can really take a single hostage, and even if you had more, once you had kill one, I would have to act to save the others. You leaf ninja are idiots."**

Suddenly a clone popped out of the ground and grabbed Ino, pulling her away from Blonde-san, who immediately ran for cover, since she knew how violent it was likely to get soon.

Naruto walked toward Ino. **"What shall I do with you, I wonder?"**

The rest of the leaf ninja attacked, but were suddenly ambushed by the crowd of clones that Naruto had left underground from before. Naruto and Kyuubi ignored them and walked right up to where his clone held Ino with her arms pinned. Intellectually, Naruto knew that he should kill her, since most ninja from Konoha placed overly high value on the lives of their comrades. But Naruto felt strangely reluctant. He didn't really need to kill her, did he? He could just maim her and let her go?

But she is a danger, possibly the most dangerous since she can infiltrate our mind. On the other hand, killing her could possibly provoke inordinate wrath from her friends. But wouldn't anger cloud their judgment, and so that would be good.

Unsure of whose thoughts were whose, the blonde boy twitched as the voices in his head grew louder.

Do it.

You don't have to do this. Just run away somewhere else.

We've done enough running. They are obviously not going to let us live peacefully. DO IT.

NO! She was our friend, she saw that we were still good even if we used an evil power.

She doesn't care anymore, obviously. And she threatened our friend! Kill your heart and become a true ninja! Kill her and remove a threat. Kill her and compromise her teammates' effectiveness. Kill her and prove you aren't weak. Kill her and prove you don't let pathetic emotions cloud your mind. Kill, kill, KILL!!!

Just as Ino thought Naruto was going to fall down in some sort of seizure, red chakra flared around him, and the cloaked young boy's face turned into a mask of hate and rage. The voices must stop. Make them stop!

In a manner that eerily reminiscent of Gaara murdering Sasuke, the demon reached out with a giant red hand, grabbed the girl from the clone, and crushed her in a scorching grip, until finally dropping a pile of charred bones and flesh onto the ground.

Kakashi's eyes grew wide. Hadn't Naruto been Ino's friend back in Konoha? How could he possibly do... that? Asuma, Jiraiya and Shikamaru froze in shock, while Jiraiya set his face in determination.

Naruto clutched their head. The voices only grew louder. Now they had to get rid of the others. They couldn't let the ninja tell Konoha that the demon was still a threat. Any and every voice they could imagine screamed at them to kill, and not even the painful burn from using so much demonic chakra could distract them from their new goal.

Naruto looked ahead of him, at the remaining four ninja. They could take four ninja. They had to take four ninja. They had to kill them. Quickly, quickly.

Even thought the edges of his vision were blurred from overuse of demon chakra, Naruto charged forward at superhuman speeds. He lunged, claws out, toward the ninja he once knew before, some shadow-user guy. But before he got there, the kid's teacher got in the way, with the blue glowy knives.

What?! Knives?! Who cares?! KILL!!!

Ignoring the knives, Naruto attacked the new enemy, forgetting about clones, forgetting about the other leaf ninja. The teacher slashed, and Naruto shrugged off a bit off chakra to deflect it, not deviating from his attack.

Somehow the knives cut through the chakra and into his arm. Pain lanced through Naruto's system, but they ignored it. They had to kill him. Kill him, kill him, killhimkillhimkillhimkillhim-

Naruto slashed with his good arm, but the teacher dodged.

Slash, dodge. Slash, dodge. Kick, dodge. Naruto tired of this game, the teacher obviously knew better than to let the evil chakra poison him. Naruto slashed one more time, in vain, before leaping into the air and blasting the area with a massive wave of demon chakra. The teacher took the hit, and Naruto cackled to themselves before they saw the teacher turn into a log.

RAGE. Naruto pulled even more chakra, going faster and faster. He couldn't even feel his injuries, though they knew there was blood leaking out from wounds he was causing to themself.

Faster, harder, more ruthlessly, Naruto attacked the teacher. The teacher couldn't dodge forever, even if Kyuubi only had one arm left. Someone else was throwing kunai, who cared? The chakra deflected it. At this point, only his own chakra and those evil knives were of any consequence. Naruto slashed, slashed, slashed, slashed, but the teacher dodged.

Naruto pulled out more chakra and attacked faster than Asuma had ever seen anyone move. Slashslashslashslashslashslashslashslashslashslashslashslashslashslash and _BLAST_ with a wave of chakra. Asuma flew back, hit a stone building with a sickening thud, and fell to the ground.

He didn't get up. Shikamaru dropped to his knees, a bad mistake. The motion attracted Kyuubi's attention, and the demon immediately charged at the shadow boy, who was too distracted to defend himself. But the silver haired guy with the funny eye got in the way.

The demons cursed out loud, thought the sound was so distorted through their bleeding mouth and lips that no one else understood them. They couldn't fight like this forever. Heck, not even the ANBU were this annoying. Why weren't these fools in ANBU?

Naruto leaped forward and attacked the silver haired man, who dodged every attack even faster than the last guy. It didn't help that Naruto couldn't really see very well anymore. His vision was blurred and blood dripped into their eyes. But he could smell and hear the man, and that was enough. Naruto attacked faster and faster, and even when his world began to spin and his sight deceived him from some genjutsu that woman no doubt began using, Naruto followed the sound and smell of the silver haired jounin.

Then the other white haired guy with the red outfit joined in the fight, apparently finished with whatever preparation he had been making. Naruto vaguely felt himself dodge fingers tipped with blue flames, but he did not waver even a moment from his attack of the funny-eyed guy. What was his name? Who cared?

The white haired guy got in the way more and more. He was even better than the other guy, and Naruto remembered from somewhere before that he shouldn't let those fingers touch him. Ever. And that made attacking the white haired guy impossible, since Kyuubi couldn't get close, and they were having trouble avoiding the sealing technique - Was that what it was? - and continuing to attack the silver haired guy.

After a few minutes, Naruto could sense his muscles beginning to give way. Soon they wouldn't even work anymore. They had to end this fast. Naruto attacked again, and Kakashi dodged back as normal, but a red hand shot out from Naruto arm and grabbed him, pinning the jounin's arms to his sides. But before Naruto could finish him, Kakashi did a quick no-seals Kawarimi and so Naruto burned a log to ashes in seconds, instead. And before Kyuubi could pursue, they were forced to dodge yet another assault of that damned sealing technique. They leapt out of the way and surveyed the scene.

Naruto was angry. Remembering strategy for a moment, he summoned an army of several thousand evil clones, and attacked.

Kakashi dodged, dodged, took a hit, dodged, took a hit, took another, and another, and suddenly poofed away. The jounin grabbed Shikamaru, and Jiraiya picked up Asuma's body, since he was closer to it, and they both ran as fast as they could to get away, knowing that they didn't have the time to collect Ino's or Kurenai's remains. The clones followed them out of town, while Naruto fell unconscious to the ground, and lay there in a growing pool of their own blood.

Jiraiya was a sannin, and not without reason, but he was not built to move herself and a grown man at blinding speeds, and Asuma was not a lightweight or anything like it.. The wrathful clones caught up to him, and he was forced to abandon Asuma's body to try and run faster. A clone or three came close enough to scratch his back with their claws, but Jiraiya knocked them back and then he was off, leaving the clones behind.

Jiraiya and Shikamaru reported to the Hokage's office the next day, and explained the terrible turn of events. Kakashi chose not to appear, but instead planned his own revenge on the demon for killing Asuma, Kurenai and Ino. Maybe a bit more stealth, and a strategic use of the Chidori...

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Naruto and Kyuubi awoke in small house, which he vaguely recognized from somewhere before. Suddenly his head was shocked with pain at a loud squealing sound.

"Oh, you're awake!"

Naruto recognized Blonde-san's house, now that he had a voice to go with it. Said woman rushed quickly from the other side of the house to their side.

"I'm so glad you're all right! Mother Night, we thought you would die, what with all that blood around you, but you healed really fast once you stopped using so much evil... whatever it is you call it."

"**Chakra."** Naruto was vaguely amused to hear her make a reference to the region's dark religious past, which was rarely discussed in his presence, and they were glad that she didn't think less of them after yesterday. Or a week ago, or whenever all that happened.

Blonde-san started back. "Oh, your voice, are you alright? You sound... different."

Naruto wasn't sure how they knew, but they did. Maybe Kyuubi told him? Or maybe he was just more in tune with how his body worked now. It wasn't like he couldn't tell the difference between himself and Kyuubi. And even if he couldn't, it wasn't such a big deal, right? **"We used so much chakra back there that our voice was permanently changed. Or at least semi-permanently. How long has it been since I fought them?"**

Blonde-san frowned. "Almost a week. I was so worried! Don't you ever do something like that again, or I'll... I'll... do something, and you won't like it!" She blushed as she realized how pathetic she sounded.

Naruto and Kyuubi sighed. They probably shouldn't get up today. Maybe tomorrow...

They fell back asleep, and Blonde-san, seeing this, left the room quietly, with a hopeful smile on her face.

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AN: Oh, yeah, in response to a few queries, Blonde-san is not Yugito, and Yugito will not be making an appearance in this story. Unless inspiration to do so comes from nothing very soon. Which I doubt.

Is this story brutal? Yes. Maybe I should up the rating... But seriously, this is how actual combat is like. Not the fluffy stuff you might see in the censored American Naruto show. Blood. Everywhere. And why shouldn't they be brutal if that is efficient? I hope you guys don't mind.

Oh, and please point out any glaring errors that I need to fix. Like in one chapter where I accidentally included Sasuke, when he died long ago. What's really sad is that I had already alluded to his death earlier in the chapter. But someone pointed it out and I fixed it early. And in this chapter, I almost had Naruto kill Asuma twice. Not sure whether he had an identical twin brother, but Naruto ripped off his face, and then later killed him again. I replaced the first instance with Kurenai, so... yeah. Let me know if there is something amiss. Thanks!

Hope you enjoyed it. See you around.

-demonicnargles


	6. Second verse, same as the first

AN: Some might be tempted to ask, "Demonicnargles, if you said you'd be done with the stuff keeping you busy lately, why didn't you update sooner?" Well, um... I'm a lazy bastard. Like Shikamaru, except less good looking and less intelligent. And without chakra, or ninja skills, or... well, I'm lazy like him, if nothing else. I had a break from the stuff, so I went on a mental holiday and didn't write for almost two weeks. Bad demonicnargles...

Someone said it was lame when I changed Naruto/Kyuubi's voice. Well, I have no defense. It was 2 in the morning or something like that, and I needed to write more to post the chapter. Because nothing is worse than a chapter that is too short. Assuming most of you read Possession, you know how annoying that can be. So I set myself length quotas to keep 'em long. Takes longer, though. :(

On another note, Cloud is in lightning country, and would have a raikage, right? I hope so...

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this somewhat belated chapter. Hey, that makes me like Kakashi: Permanently late! Although not so much like him in other respects... slaps self

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Naruto awoke to a small room packed with ninjas. Not stopping even to think, Kyuubi released a massive wave of killing intent and surrounded themselves with their normal protective chakra, which burned even more than usual since they hadn't completely healed from overloading their body with demonic chakra earlier.

Several ninja fell over from a combination of fear and the slight shockwave that using so much chakra so fast had created. The others stepped back toward the walls and drew kunai.

The blonde finished waking up and noticed that they were cloud ninja. Maybe they weren't here to fight. Although that would be a pity. They had exhausted themselves in the last fight and only killed a few people. What, three? Four? Who cared?

Naruto let off on the killing intent, and the ninja in the room either relaxed or sheepishly stood up. One of the more formally dressed jounin ninja stepped forward, holding out a scroll while looking down at the ground. "We are sorry, Aku-sama. On second thought, we probably should not have all come in here. But we were not sure if you would be well enough to come out, and to meet you with less than this escort would be an insult, I'm sure."

Red eyes just stared back him, though the chakra armor dissipated, indicating that Naruto understood. The man fidgeted and avoided his gaze.

"Uh, yes, so this scroll has the details of an arrangement the Raikage would like to make with you. I'm sure you are aware of the recent Leaf intrusion?" The blonde's head nodded almost imperceptibly in assent. "And you are, of course, aware of the hostility between leaf and cloud, so I don't think you need to be told what the Raikage thinks of this, and... to make it short, we would like your assistance in a few key missions."

Naruto took the scroll from the man, who had been holding it out the whole time.

The man continued in a placating voice, made from some combination of fear and respect. The Raikage had made it _abundantly_ clear that this 'Aku' was to be treated with utmost respect. And since the messenger jounin had also heard of Aku's abilities... he was very careful to avoid anything that might set the boy off. "There is no lasting commitment on your part, though if you want to help us after this you are certainly welcome. We would just like to, borrow your expertise for a few weeks or months, and then we won't ask anything more of you."

Naruto heard the man talking, but focused mainly on reading the scroll. 'Dear esteemed sir' blah blah blah. Kyuubi skipped to the meat of the letter. 'We would like your assistance in an attack on Konoha. Being a civilized nation, we are of course not intending to conquer any land, but we must teach the leaf to stay out of our country. They have far too free...' blah blah blah 'In return for your help, we would be delighted to offer any monetary reward within reasonable range of the value of your services, estimated at several millions in ryou, and permanent access to any combat apparel, weapons, or items you may wish to obtain or have made. You will also be given a pension equivalent to that of a retired jounin, for as long as you remain in cloud country. Again, we would greatly appreciate...' blah blah blah and the rest of the letter was babble.

Naruto interrupted the jounin in whatever he was saying. **"So are we meeting the Raikage or is he somewhere else?"**

The man paused for a moment, either taken aback by the growling voice or stopping to think.. "Well, he is in a nearby town preparing the attack. If you would like to meet him, that can certainly be arranged. Whatever we can do to accommodate you."

Kyuubi thought they might like to see the man they were working with. **"I'll go see him. Where is he?"**

"He is about five miles south of here-"

"**That will be all I need. Oh, and a bit of information for you..."**

The man's gaze drifted up, but still avoiding their eyes. **"We're not a wild animal. Eye contact won't make me kill you."**

The man blushed, somewhat embarrassed, and with obvious effort looking into Kyuubi's blood-red eyes. "Sorry, Aku-sama."

Naruto rolled his eyes and waved them off. He would have to tell Blonde-san about this new arrangment.

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"... and I think this would really help our position against cloud, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade looked at Kakashi somewhat skeptically. "You really think that killing his only remaining friends will help us by making him angry. I don't see how making him angry will help."

Kakashi sighed, and began in a voice like that of a teacher telling a child something for the thousandth time. "People make mistakes when they get angry. So he will be less able to fend me off."

"Kakashi, we've tried something like that before. Remember what happened on your last mission? I've looked up the seal the Yondaime used, and strong emotions make it weaker. I'm not sure exactly how they operate without the seal, but I imagine it can't be too different if they are still in one body. Making him angry will make him more powerful."

"But it will also make him less intelligent and less accurate, which is all I will need."

"Kakashi, you are a very skilled shinobi, but he's taken out teams of ANBU! What are you going to do against him?"

Kakashi smirked. "Yes, he's taken out teams of ANBU. Up to three teams at a time, or so I heard. Killed them all. But have you noticed that the small teams we sent more recently have suffered less than that? Judging from that and from watching how he fights using my Sharingan, I can see this now. He fights with huge, broad strokes, which hurt everyone in an area. Or he stuns many people with a large attack and then grabs one and finishes him off. He is terrible at single combat. We used basic replacement techniques against him with complete success. It was only when we were in the same general area that he could get any of us, because ninja are always taught that a group is better than an individual."

Tsunade smiled. "If you really think you can do it, Kakashi, Konoha would be forever indebted to you. And make sure to include Jiraiya. If the demon is as bad at detecting techniques as you say, Jiraiya can simply hide unless or until you need help."

Kakashi nodded and turned to walk out of the room.

"Oh, and Kakashi."

The jounin turned around to face the Legendary Sucker. "Good luck, Kakashi."

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Naruto slouched into a chair across the table from the Raikage, just a few days after receiving the letter.. **"You called, so I came to hear exactly what it is you wanted me to do. The letter was kinda vague."**

The Raikage straightened up, and quickly concealed his look of annoyance from Aku's posture. "Yes, we are about to cross the border into leaf, and we would like you to lend a hand against any leaf ninja you happen upon. The letter was vague because your mission is, somewhat vague. Basically, once we start the attack, we would like you to help out against any leaf ninja you happen to encounter."

Kyuubi smirked. **"So if I see or hear any leaf ninja, I kill them."**

The Raikage nodded. "Straight to the point. Yes we would like you to kill any leaf ninja you happen across, preferably without harming any of our ninja. I have heard that you are a bit wild, but if you can, we would like you to be extra cautious about harming any cloud ninja."

Naruto chuckled. **"If they stay out of my way, they won't get hurt. And I won't intentionally kill them, so don't worry too much. I've never killed anyone back in the village, right?"**

The Raikage laughed nervously. "Yes, so it shouldn't be too difficult for you, I guess."

Suddenly a cloud ninja in chuunin dress burst into the room. "Lord Raikage, the leaf has attacked a village 5 miles north of here, and killed everyone there!"

Everyone in the room froze. Naruto froze because he was so incredibly angry that he did not know whether he should attack Konoha, or go to the village to look for possible survivors, or to just run far away from Konoha. The ninja froze because of the incredible amount of killing intent that Kyuubi was unconsciously releasing.

Suddenly Naruto ran straight north, blasting through walls, buildings, and people in his haste.

The Raikage put his face in his hands. "This is not good. Not good at all."

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Naruto covered five miles in less than 3 minutes, leaving a wake of destruction behind him. Instead of running around trees, he just blasted them out of his way. Instead of avoiding bushes, he incinerated them as he ran right through them.

Naruto arrived in the village and ran to the house of Blonde-san, not even noticing a silver-haired ninja standing in the shadows between two buildings.

Kakashi smirked. This was it. Vengeance for his fallen comrades, elimination of an enemy, and the completion of a mission he had failed before.

Kakashi waited until he heard the growling roar that meant that the demon had found her body, and then he sauntered over toward where Naruto was. Rounding the corner of a street, he saw the boy clasping her body to him.

"So, Naruto, how's it going?"

Naruto whipped his head around and saw Kakashi, and at once he _knew_. Without saying a word, Naruto attacked.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow as Naruto flew at him. The boy wasn't even using his protective layer of chakra. This would be easy. Kakashi threw a kunai, but a small bit of chakra whipped out and knocked it away.

Before Kakashi could recover from his surprise, Naruto was upon him. But Kakashi didn't have to worry so much, since the boy was hardly using any chakra at all. Or that's what he thought, until he happened to block a certain punch instead of dodging like he had been. Pain shot through his forearm, and he realized that Naruto was just using as little chakra as possible, simply stabbing Kakashi with a bit of chakra on every attack. But why was he so conservative with his chakra?

Kakashi didn't have time to ponder, since Naruto was attacking faster and faster, throwing seemingly harmless punches and kicks that Kakashi now knew he had to avoid as much as he had avoided attacks with the demonic chakra in earlier encounters.

Kakashi was impressed with Naruto's taijutsu, it was certainly better than he expected and anger-crazed genin capable of. So he was not surprised when, between dodging a kick and lashing out with a kick of his own, he noticed that Naruto did not look angry. In fact, the boy's face was utterly without emotion, a mask of indifference. It was with this indifference that Naruto attacked, and without seeming to care a bit Naruto blocked every attack Kakashi through at him.

After a while, Kakashi noticed an unnatural ache in his arms and legs. After having another kick blocked, Kakashi finally saw it. His Sharingan detected the slight bit of chakra that Naruto retaliated with on every block. Deciding that this taijutsu wasn't working out well for him, Kakashi jumped back and flashed through the seals for the grand fireball. Kyuubi simply jumped out of the way, leaping over a building and landing out of sight on the other side.

Kakashi was not surprised when Naruto almost immediately jumped back over to attack. Even if he didn't show it, the demon had to be angry, and so had no interest in strategy. At least, that was what Kakashi thought until a pair of hands grabbed his ankles from underground. Kakashi quickly replaced himself with a log as Naruto lunged forward with a chakra claw, which dissipated after the attack. Kakashi looked at the two Narutos before he noticed the ground begin to shake. Suddenly dozens of clones erupted from the ground, all around him.

It was not possible to dodge every attack now, and every attack that he was forced to block also sent a spike of evil chakra into his body. Although Kakashi was tearing through the clones, who seemed less skilled than the actual Naruto, he couldn't take this sort of punishment forever. Kakashi decided to step it up, and pulled out kunai, which he threw at the clones. The clones just shrugged off the kunai as flickers of chakra deflected them all.

Then Kakashi saw it. Naruto was using a strategy after all. He was going to force Kakashi into close combat the whole time, and simply wear Kakashi down with the damage Kyuubi's chakra inflicted upon the jounin.

So Kakashi knew he had to do something about this. But what? Kunai were obviously useless. Taijutsu was working, and Kakashi didn't have any better genjutsu than Kurenai, who hadn't been able to fool Naruto for long anyway. So that left Ninjutsu, but there were not many techniques that Kakashi could think of that would have a chance of getting through the demon's guardian chakra.

Kakashi needed to end this, to kill the demon, to... assassinate the demon. So why not an assassination jutsu? He just needed to set up the demon in such a way that Kakashi wouldn't miss.

Kakashi finished off the clones and began fighting the real Naruto again. Kakashi pretended to be forced into an alley, and replaced himself with a clone, who just dodged the attacks and so would not disappear for while. Kakashi reappeared behind Naruto and quickly started the chidori.

Before Naruto could do more than turn around, Kakashi lunged forward and shoved the chidori into Naruto heart. Kakashi watched as Naruto stood, eyes wide, before falling to the ground.

And poofing into smoke.

Before Kakashi could do more than turn around, Naruto shoved his chakra claws toward Kakashi chest, but suddenly someone grabbed his arm.

Jiraiya smiled. "That's not very nice, Naruto."

Naruto frowned at the man who had appeared next to him, and blasted both men away with a wave of chakra, knocking down the adjacent buildings in the process. Naruto's eyes narrowed when Jiraiya vanished in a puff of smoke.

Suddenly a searing pain in his back forced his to turn around as Jiraiya leaped back, his fingers glowing. The pain vanished after a moment, but Naruto felt that the chakra around the seal was cut off. He couldn't protect his back nearly as well now. Naruto charge the sannin, but tripped as a pair of hands grabbed him from below, and the sannin took full advantage of this by placing another seal, slamming his fingers into Naruto's left shoulder.

Naruto jumped back, and grabbed his left arm. It couldn't use chakra now. Which meant that seals were out of the question, which meant that clones were out of the question. Kyuubi scowled. This was not good. Concentrating intensely, Kyuubi pushed with his chakra, harder and harder. Naruto stood there for a few minutes, staring down Kakashi and Jiraiya, until suddenly chakra blasted out of his left shoulder.

Jiraiya and Kakashi flinched and looked at each other. Naruto had broken the seal. They couldn't waste time now and let him unseal his back as well, so they attacked.

Naruto found himself remembering Neji for some reason. And Tenten. Too bad about them, but they had chosen to come on that mission. Or they had refused anyway. Naruto wondered, and decided that there was no reason not to try.

Kakashi was a little surprised when Naruto, who had been stiffly blocking and dodging both him and Jiraiya, no small feat, leapt back and fell into a somewhat familiar stance. What? He didn't know jyuuken.

But Naruto might as well have known it from birth. He lunged forward, copying the movement he remembered from Neji. Kakashi suddenly found himself on the receiving end of 64 palms. Granted, not many of them actually hit tenketsu, since the demon obviously couldn't see them, but even so, getting blasted with demonic chakra like that _hurt_. A lot.

Jiraiya stepped in to interfere and suddenly found himself in the same predicament, while Kakashi was unable to help. Jiraiya was not a sannin for nothing, but he couldn't dodge fast enough, and so he was forced to block, which, of course, meant that although he was saving his body, his arms screamed with pain as they were injected with huge amounts of evil chakra.

Kakashi shakily moved to defend Jiraiya, but his poisoned body was stiff and sore, like he had been running all day. Naruto saw his chance, and suddenly unleashed his demonic chakra, which flared around him like a whirlwind.

Kakashi found himself under attack, but he couldn't move fast enough to match Kyuubi's superhuman speed and strength. He took slash across the chest, then on one thigh, then in the shoulder, before Jiraiya stepped in. Naruto formed a single seal.

Clones appeared all around them, and injured and poisoned as they were, the two ninja from the hidden leaf could not hold off the clones. Jiraiya began a summoning technique but suddenly looked down at the hand sticking out of his chest, holding something that still moved. Twitch, twitch. Twitch, twitch.

And then it stopped moving, and Jiraiya slumped to the ground.

Kakashi was frightened. There were so many of them that they had taken Jiraiya by surprise, and Kakashi was injured. Kakashi could block almost every frontal attack using his Sharingan, but the attacks from behind were slowly getting to him, until he dodged too slowly one last time. Clawed hands ripped his torso apart, splattering his ribs and organs across the wall of a nearby house. As he died, Kakashi saw Naruto begin to eat Jiraiya's corpse. It was disgusting, it was horrifying, it was... demonic.

And then Kakashi saw nothing.

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The Raikage received news from the battle front every ten minutes. It was not going well. The leaf ninja used their knowledge of the area to its full potential, and the invading cloud ninja were constantly running into traps and ambushes. To be sure, the Raikage thought that he was still getting the point across, but if this went much more poorly the leaf might retaliate, and that would be a problem. The war, now two days in, was not looking too well.

Suddenly the door opened, and the Raikage turned around to greet the messenger and hear the latest on the war.

But it was not the messenger. A short figure stood in the doorway, pale blonde hair ruffled, and with black cloak decorated with red clouds. Naruto stood there for a moment, holding the door opened with his reddened hands, still caked in drying blood, before he came to stand in front of the table.

The Raikage smiled. "Aku, welcome back!"

The blonde said nothing.

"Ah, well... if you are still interested in helping us, we could really use your help, we've been having some problems, you see, and the leaf ninja use their environment well-"

"**Where."** Naruto's voice cut through the air, immediately shutting up the babbling Raikage. Even though it sounded like it had come from far away, it was loud and deep and vaguely threatening.

The Raikage gestured at a map on the table. "Here, here, and here," he said, pointing at three places on the map. He looked up to explain what the problems were, but Naruto was already leaving.

"Try not to kill my men!" The Raikage sincerely hoped he did not regret his decision to seek this demon's aid.

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One leaf chuunin wiped his kunai on the body of a nearby cloud ninja corpse. "That wasn't so bad, was it, man?"

He turned to look at his partner, only to see a blonde, red-eyed kid holding his partner's head in his hands.

Before the chuunin could even turn to run, he was dead.

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The leaf jounin blocked the barrage of kunai and unsealed a scroll, revealing a wicked looking katana. Looking at the 5 cloud chuunin, the jounin could not help but feel a bit of pride at striking such utter panic into the enemy. They looked at him with such horror and... or were they looking past him?

The jounin turned around to see the newest addition to the bingo book holding two heads in his hands, each with a leaf headband on it.

"Oh, shit."

The jounin jumped up into a tree and ran as fast as he could toward Konoha. He had to warn the others. Leaping from branch to branch, he sped like an arrow, until something hit him in the back of the leg, just behind the knee. He plummeted to the ground, caught himself, and continued running. Looking back, he saw that he had been tripped with one of the severed heads, and that the S-rank villain was gaining on him, following with the same dispassionate expression that the picture in the bingo book showed.

The jounin sprinted past several other battles, hoping that the demon child would chase easier prey. To his disappointment, when he looked back, he saw clones splitting off from the boy. Or maybe the original and some clones left a clone to follow him?

Clones were now popping out the cloaked boy every few seconds, and splitting off toward nearby battles. Obviously this was the original. Screams echoed through the forest, barely recognizable as human voices screaming in agony, and the jounin urged himself to go even faster. He did not want to know what could make hardened ninja scream like little girls.

Suddenly the ground in front of him erupted and the clone popping out of the ground stuck fingers from one hand into the jounin's eyes, held the neck with the other hand, and expertly ripped of the jounin's head with a quick tug on the skull, which he gripped with his fingers in the eye sockets.

Naruto took the man's headband and added it to the collection he already carried in a bag on his back. A few clones came and dropped off more headbands. Kyuubi didn't know why they were collecting them, other than to keep track of how many they killed, possibly. Because they certainly weren't bothering to count right now.

A foolish leaf chuunin stumbled into the area where Naruto was, and was promptly disemboweled by a clone, who took the headband off the still-dying man and placed it in Naruto's sack. Naruto jogged past the shrieking ninja that was writhing in a pool of his own blood and continued towards his goal.

Konoha.

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Tsunade conferred with the advisors she had brought to her forward command post, just inside the gate, which was closed to keep out the cloud ninja. The grey clouds above threatened rain, but so far nothing had come of it.

It was only a matter of time before the cloud ninja gave up. From all accounts, the leaf ninja, well-versed in the local territory, were destroying the invading cloud ninjas. With any luck, Tsunade could even get something good out of this war.

Suddenly a man dropped from the wall, landing heavily on the ground, before picking himself up and limping toward Tsunade.

The Hokage was horrified. The man, in jounin uniform, had one eye gouged out, with a huge bleeding wound around it, one arm was missing, apparently broken off halfway down from the shoulder, and the good hand was holding an obviously serious wound shut on his torso. Tsunade could see the man's organs between the fingers.

The man shook his head when she rushed to heal him. "It's too late, Hokage-sama. But you have to know, _He_ is here. He's slaughtering us like pigs, no one can stop him. I just barely got away... I... I had to warn you... I..."

The man collapsed to the ground, dead."

Tsunade stared, overcome with her terrible fear of blood, and with a horrifying sense of despair. Naruto was here, meaning that Kakashi and Jiraiya were almost certainly dead. And even more than that, the demon was _here_. The only way things could get worse, would be if-

A loud BOOM shook the ground, and blasted the gates down, crushing several ninja too slow to jump away. On the other side of the fallen gates stood an expressionless blonde boy, with hollow red eyes.

Tsunade's eyes widened in fear and panic.

"**Don't be so sad, Hokage. It could always get worse. It could be raining."**

Tsunade looked up dumbly, and was hit in the eye by a drop of water.

The cloaked figure looked on as more water began to fall. His mouth curved into an evil smirk. **"Oh, I guess it can't get worse. Too bad for you."**

Red eyes glowed in the semi-darkness of the cloudy day.

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AN : Annnnnnd... done! Hmm... looks like this will be ending soon. Sooner than I thought. Like, maybe next chapter. Or possibly the one after that. But not further than that, I think. I was writing and all of the sudden I found myself near the end of the plot...

If you have a comment, or a question, or a concern, or if you just feel like telling me that you read it and how you liked it, I encourage you to review. Also, if there is some glaring error, like the inclusion of a dead character, or the killing of an already dead character, or a horrible plot hole, please tell me in a review or PM. Until next time.


	7. Death as a means to an end

AN: No excuses. This chapter is late. Really late. In fact, it was late by the time I _started_ writing it. So please forgive me and enjoy the last chapter. -demonicnargles

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Tsunade stared dumbly at Naruto, or Kyuubi, or whatever it or he was. Red eyes glowed softly in the cloud-dimmed light of the sun, and the slight light made the rain between them shine like sparks of fire. There were no works she could think of to describe the utter despair she felt now.

But regardless of her feelings, the ANBU were ever alert. Seeing a risk to the Hokage, over a dozen of the best ninjas Konoha had rushed at the demonic figure.

An explosion of evil chakra blasted them all back away, and after the light died down, Tsunade could see the cloaked child standing exactly where he had been before, but now surrounded by a small crater.

Snapping out of her trance, she saw now what Kakashi saw about Naruto's fighting. The more opponents he had, the more efficient and deadly he was. But if he was attacked one on one, maybe there was hope.

Before the ANBU could regroup to attack again, Tsunade made hand signal to them, communicating her information to them. Suddenly the elite ninja sprang into action, grabbing equipment and bystanders until Kyuubi was left standing alone in front of gates.

He smiled fiercely, baring his teeth. This was going to be even more fun than he thought. Walking forward, he was not surprised when a single ninja jumped from underneath the cover of the fallen gates. The ANBU was impaled on an enormous orange spike of chakra that Naruto shot out, then burst into smoke.

Naruto rolled his bloody-red eyes as he continued forward. Ninja were so predictable. 3, 2, 1...

Naruto turned around and raked his claws across the face mask of the ninja whose clone had been meant to distract him. The ANBU, though, was not elite for nothing, and jumped back, clutching his mask to his bleeding face. Bleeding, because the masks were not protective, meant only to protect the identity of the wearer. The dog mask now had two long gashes across the eyes.

The ANBU dropped the mask as he used his hands to make several seals, and then belched fire out of his now-uncovered mouth. A small swirl of chakra emanated from Naruto and cancelled the attack easily.

But Dog had been expecting that. The attack had, however, provided as a distraction for the ANBU to replace himself with a clone and hide behind his enemy. Forming another clone, he knew he would have to have better timing than before.

The first clone attacked straight on with a kunai, and the second crept up from behind and to the left of the boy. Dog curved right, hoping that two clones would provide a sufficient distraction.

The blonde boy did not move as the first clone attacked, until just before he was stabbed with the kunai, he morphed into a house sized version of the Kyuubi and bit off the clones head.

The second clone attacked quickly and Dog, though unsettled, still continued on his attack.

The mini-Kyuubi turned left and opened its mouth wide, firing a red beam of chakra that annihilated the clone instantly.

Dog silently leapt from directly behind the fox and stabbed at the head of the fox, feeling massive relief when the kunai plunged into the skull of the unaware fox. That relief quickly turned to dread, however, when the fox burst into smoke.

Of course, it made sense, the Hokage had mentioned that the boy's favorite technique had been the shadow clone. But it didn't help now, when every nearby piece of debris suddenly revealed itself to be a henged clone, and the army of clones attacked immediately without any warning.

The ANBU turned and twisted and slashed, dispatching clone after clone, but they kept coming. Soon he received a scratch on the arm, then a gash across the back, then a claw cut through his right hamstring. Dog could feel his reflexes failing. Another hit. And another.

Deciding that he had done his duty for now, he kawarimied away and began to jog as fast as his injured legs could go. The boy wouldn't find him, since it was just a genin with a demon.

The ANBU believed that till his death two second later, when a kunai in his pouch transformed into a clone and disemboweled him.

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Tsunade knew that not many ANBU wouldn't probably survive this day, but with any luck they would wear down and eventually kill the demon. Of course, even assuming they succeeded, they were still left at a terrible disadvantage to Cloud. Something had to be done.

Tsunade tried hard to think, and tried even harder to ignore the sense of impending doom and the oppressive aura of the nearby demonic chakra.

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Naruto wandered through Konoha, making his way to the Hokage tower. Shadow clones poured off him like water, running to take care of the ANBU left to take care of him. Thanks to Kyuubi's seemingly limitless supply of chakra, he could create as many clones as he needed, and supply them with enough chakra to do their own jutsus. Nothing was more convincing that a clone that made clones. Mostly because there was no one else with enough chakra to waste on tricks like that.

After a while, Kyuubi wondered if the Hokage would really be stupid enough to retreat to the Hokage tower. It was possible, but surely she and the rest of them had gotten over their repeated underestimations of him, right?

But in any case, Naruto needed her. Because he would receive from her what he could get no one else, and he knew that there was nothing she would be more willing to give. It was the only way.

Kyuubi ignored Naruto's quiet thoughts, too intent on the destruction.

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Tsunade stared out of the windows of her office. The angry demon-empowered boy would of course take the most direct route to the tower, and so would run into every ANBU along the way. She should have at least another half hour before anything needed to be done about the approaching threat.

Feeling a bit guilty about being so cavalier to her ANBU casualties, she tried to come up with a plan in case the ANBU didn't cut it. She could fight herself, of course, but that was probably not a great idea. Sannin though she was, she mostly used her fists and feet for fighting, and that was probably not a good idea in a match against an opponent whose very presence could be harmful.

She wondered if it were at all possible to try and offer the kid a position back in Konoha. He had been a leaf ninja at one point, and from the files she had read, had been determined to become Hokage. Maybe she could bribe him with a rank and some serious money? Assuming, of course, that Konoha had any money left after this war.

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Naruto mused about what he should do to Tsunade when he got there. He needed a creative punishment for killing his friend. Simply ripping off her head or skinning her alive would not be sufficient. The punishment needed to be cruel, not just the kid stuff that normal ninja did. Being burned alive sounded fun, especially since he could use Kyuubi already corrosive chakra for that, but he would have to inflict near-fatal wounds already to get that to work, and there was a chance that the woman would kill herself or run away before then. How could he get her to stay put while he burned her?

Naruto smiled as the dark whispers told him what to do. Laughing with his darker partner, he walked up the side of the tower. Apparently the Hokage was pretty sure that he was stupid if she didn't have any guards posted out here. And it was a wonder that they hadn't sensed his presence yet. Or maybe all the ANBU were gone. Or maybe they weren't here at all, and Naruto was mistaken. That would be disappointing.

Then again, he would just be forced to tear apart Konoha in his search for her, which would be fun. He had heard that civilians were more fun to torture, since they actually screamed and begged instead of biting off their tongues or something like that.

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Tsunade became more and more uncomfortable. Maybe it was because she had sense everyone else away, and so she felt nervous about being found? But she felt more like the air she breathed was thick and...

Oppressive. Like the aura of the demon.

Tsunade whirled around as she leaped over her desk, facing the cloaked blonde who stood quietly in the window. This kid, demon or not, had to be absolutely amazing to get by so many ANBU so quickly.

Tsunade became confused when ANBU suddenly burst in the door, those with the hawk, monkey, cat, and dog masks. Why were they still alive? Hadn't they been the ones she assigned to delay the demon?

"**Well, Tsunade, I must say that I am disappointed in your security around here. The ANBU got here no sooner than I did, although I walked up the side of the tower in broad daylight."**

The ANBU in the hawk mask managed to sound sheepish, even in this situation. "We were fighting, and suddenly there were no more clones. We figured that he had bypassed us and come here, so we hurried here."

Kyuubi looked around the ANBU through the door they had entered from. **"And so you ran up the stairs?"**

"Well, yes."

Naruto laughed, and deep, scratchy sound. **"Aren't you ninja? Why didn't you just jump through the window?"**

"..." Naruto swore he could see a blush through the masks that covered their faces.

Tsunade nodded at the boy and ran out the door. But before the ANBU could move, Dog suddenly exploded in a giant ball of fiery chakra. Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving the three ANBU in critical condition to die in the Hokage office.

Meanwhile, Tsunade ran through the village, passing the civilians hurrying to evacuate into the tunnels. She was pushing through a dense crowd, wondering why the people were still making their way there half an hour after the orders, when suddenly all the people stopped and looked at her.

Tsunade's face paled, and she looked around wildly, to see that every person in the area was staring at her.

There were no people still making their way into the tunnels. They were already there, of course, since they knew the dangers of a ninja attack. There were no civilians in the city left at all.

The villagers all burst into smoke, revealing smirking clones of the blonde boy.

Voices echoed from all around her. **"Where are you going, exactly? I don't think there's anywhere near here where you'd be any safer. Unless you're looking for people? Surely you don't think I would let them go."**

Tsunade, who could hear the screaming as the boy's clones slaughtered everyone they came across, found no reason to doubt him.

"**So, if you're not going to a place, or a person, perhaps you're looking for thing?"**

Tsunade's brow furrowed in concentration. Surely she could do something against this. Then she remembered Kakashi, from before his last mission. He said that the boy was weak in one-on-one combat, didn't he? Well, if that were true, there was no better person to find out than one of the legendary Sannin.

Tsunade cracked her knuckles and took a fighting stance, at which Naruto rolled their eyes. He'd been hoping to break her first, but if that was all he was going to get out of her, he might as well get it started.

Tsunade jumped into the air as the ground erupted with clones, each wearing the same strange grin. The clones followed her into the air.

But Tsunade was not a sannin for nothing. Using a bit of chakra and a lot control, she used her massive strength to pummel every clone that caught up to her in mid-air. Landing on a building, she surreptitiously dropped a small piece of paper before leaping away again.

The clones that landed on the roof just behind her were torn apart by the massive blast of the explosive tag.

Tsunade landed on the ground in the street, and turned to face the sea of Naruto clones, who jogged forward, their faces now impassive. Tsunade mashed one clones face, dodged a few punches, kicked a few into next week, and kept dodging. She spun and wove and dealt swift death to any clone that got too close.

Now she saw what Kakashi had meant, and what Kakashi had obviously not been able to take advantage of. The clones, thought each as talented as the original, and, from what she had heard, even able to use chakra, were better suited to taking care of many targets. As they approached her, they got in each other's way, greatly reducing their effectiveness. And as Tsunade tried to plan what to do next, she realized that all of Naruto's abilities were this way.

Every technique Tsunade had heard of him using, gave some advantage to the victim. The clones got in each other's way, the blast of chakra obscured Naruto's sight, and, Tsunade conjectured, the use of much of the demon's chakra completely masked the presence of any nearby chakra signatures.

So all Tsunade really needed to do was to get the boy a little angry, so he'd use Kyuubi's chakra. Then she could hide and plan her next move. All she really needed was to get one good punch to the boy's head, but with all the clones, that would not be possible.

But she could worry about that later. For now, she contented herself with beating the crap out of Naruto's clones. She put on a confident smirk, and after less than a minute, was rewarded as the clones began to suddenly lash out with claws made of chakra. After another few minutes, every clone was a miniature inferno of evil chakra.

And suddenly, Tsunade vanished, and the clones dispersed, breaking everything they could find in a furious search for the Hokage.

Tsunade masked her chakra, used a minor genjutsu, and ran to another section of town. As she ran, she saw fewer and fewer clones, until she was completely alone of the other side of the village.

Alone, until she saw him. Sitting at the deserted Ichiraku ramen stand, eating a bowl of what was probably lukewarm ramen. Tsunade crept up to the demon container. There could be no doubt that this was the one. It was eating, and clones didn't do that. Heck, Tsunade wasn't sure if they even could.

But before she could get in position for an attack, she heard a deep, raspy voice. **"Have a seat, Tsunade."**

Feeling strangely safe, she took a seat next to the cloaked blonde kid, who, upon close inspection, was revealed to be at least a foot shorter than her.

"**Have some ramen. It's not hot, but it will do."**

And Tsunade did just that. After several minutes, they both finished their bowls. Naruto stood up and walked out into the deserted street. Tsunade followed him and stopped a few feet away, facing him.

Naruto looked at her calmly. **"There is something I want from you, Tsunade."**

Tsunade smirked, hoping to raise the demon's ire. "This is the only thing I'll ever give _you_, demon." And feeling wildly overconfident, she sprang forward and punched the boy in the face with all her might.

The sickening _crack_ and _squelch_ carried in the dead air and the body fell to the ground in a heap. Tsunade fell into a fighting stance as she saw clones gather on the rooftops. She knew that as soon as the clone she had attacked disappeared in a cloud of ninja smoke, they would attack.

But after several tense moments, nothing happened. Tsunade looked around at the clones. She looked at the bleeding body, whose mangled face and skull oozed over the street.

A single clone stepped forward, and as it approached, Tsunade noticed that it seemed faint, almost transparent. In fact, now that she was looking, they all seemed that way. The clone whispered in a voice so faint that Tsunade wasn't quite sure she heard it.

"_That's all I wanted, anyway._"

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Tsunade sighed as she jogged out of yet another town with money people close behind. But ever since that day, it was for a different reason.

"YOU COME BACK HERE!!! I KNOW YOU CHEATED! NO ONE WINS THAT OFTEN! THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY YOU WON A JACKPOT ON EVERY MACHINE!!!"

Tsunade knew why. She had no bad luck left with which to lose.

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Deep in the darkness, Kyuubi cursed that idiot child will all his might. All that work to destroy Konoha, and then the stupid kid let the Hokage sucker punch him right in the face with the force of a tank! Not only did the idiot let it happen, he had prevented Kyuubi from doing anything about it!

And to top it all off, Shinigami was not even considering letting him off the hook another time.

The fox roared, partly out of anger, and partly out of pain. Hell was not a nice place.

But despite all his suffering an anger, Kyuubi took some time to wonder why the boy would do such a foolish thing.

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Naruto walked slowly across a green field, enjoying the bright sunlight and the clean air. Random flowers dotted the grass, and he could see other people playing down by the crystal clear river.

He was startled out of his reverie by a rather strong poke to the side. "Sorry, blonde-san. What did you say?"

Said woman tried to look angry, but it was even more impossible to be mad at him _here_ than it ever had been down there, and she had never gotten angry at him there, either... So she ended up with a cute, frustrated smile on her face while she ranted.

"I've been trying to tell you about all the places up here, and you keep spacing out. And besides, if we're going to be here forever, you could use my name."

Naruto just smiled, and chuckled a little. "Sure thing, blonde-san."

She tackled him onto the ground.

From across the field, a wrinkled old man smiled, and the white-haired next to him smiled with him. The wrinkled one looked over at the white-haired one standing next to him. "I told you he would come around."

"I'm glad you were right, Sarutobi-sensei. I guess we just never gave him a chance. What do you think, kid?"

He looked down at the regal-looking blonde man seated in the grass. The Yondaime just smiled and wiped a tear out of his eye.

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The end...

-demonicnargles


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